Depends what you read/believe. A mate of mine spoke to Henry Fa'afili just before he moved away from Warrington, he allegedly said the sole reason he never won anything with Warrington was down to Briers and his overwhelming influence at the club at that time. I personally never believed my mate when he told me, I found it hard to believe that Moran would put money into the club and allow Briers to ruin it all.

I heard it was because of the Henry shuffle

You look at Briers now with this impression he's some kind of club legend. But I think the credit for that should be given primarily to Tony Smith. He's turned Briers into the influential player he is now. When Lee left Saints the rejection hurt him and he was never the rounded, professional and calming influence he is today. The potential was there but he was in danger of never fulfilling it until the day Smith arrived. If he had stayed at Saints I'm sure both would have been reasonably successful, but Saints wouldn't have had the glorious spell we did have. Sean Long is the best halfback to have ever played in Super League (Forgetting A Johns' cameo) and was inspirational for Saints in a way Briers' could never be.



Long, if he doesn't fall victim to post-retirement-blues drinking, will go on to be become a fantastic coach. You can see his influence at Salford already.

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You could also see his influence at Hull a few weeks ago.

two paragraphs of rubbish it just flows from your keyboard it really does. this was a sensible subject that even rogues put some decent input to, you just turn into Wire player can not possibly be as good as a Saints player drivel.



To state as fact that a player that took your club to a wembley final could never go onto be an inspirational player at saints IF he had stayed is complete rubbish.



and Tony Smith has actually made us less reliant on Briers than ever before, that was the first thing he did at this club.

Having a paddy because you don't agree with me isn't very constructive. Rogues valid input was that they were both rubbish and Adrian 'Porno' Lam was better.

How has my post that Long was better for Saints than Briers could have been angered you?



You shouldn't underestimate the impact working under Smith has had on Briers.

So you're saying that what Briers needed was a good coach in a professional environment - wouldn't he have got that at Saints?



I did like Sean Long but I think Briers was a better all round player. Long's best years were the early part of his career when he had genuine pace, he was like Danny McGuire in that once he had found a gap it was a try as he would run off the chasers, but he had more to his game than McGuire. After Brandon Costin smashed his knee in 2001 he lost the edge of pace, and he was still a good player but was limited compared to Briers, certainly he didn't have Briers' kicking game, but Long did have a good rugby brain and when Saints were in big games he did the job required.



As for best halfback to have ever played in Super League, I would rate Lam, Langer, Burrow and Briers ahead of Long.

Nor should you over-estimate it. Briers is rightly considered a legend for his career over 15 years, with the acheivements of the last few years being just rewards for all he has done. He's had to play in some average and some very poor teams during his time but has always shone himself. Just imagine what his record would look like had he had the sort of players around him that Long had throughout his career!

Briers has been the most influential player at Warrington for the last 15 years, and hasn't just become a 'legend' since TS took over. Arguably his best form was 04-06 under Cullen but he did lack the consistency of later years.

Long was a great player but had Briers played with the quality sides that Saints enjoyed

then he would have been equally as successful.

Briers becoming the clubs record points scorer last year can only be down to incredible skill and ability displayed over an entire career and not solely due to the influence of a great coach during the last three seasons.

Long, as good as he was, has been fortunate enough to play in some outstanding St Helens teams. Don't get me wrong, this doesn't detract from his individual abilities, as he was a match winner all day long. However, if you contrast his career with Briers in terms of the clubs they represented, the difference is absolutely massive and impossible to ignore. Briers and Long have always has their flaws [iaway[/i from the game, however, on the field, they have both displayed brilliance.



In an interview with Lee recently, he openly admitted that he wished he was starting his career again because the situation we find ourselves in as a club is very very promising, particularly in terms of coaching set up and playing personnel. Lee has flourished in recent years, but this is predominantly due to the fact that he now, unfortunately for him in his 30's, finds himself in such a fantastically well balanced squad of players. Therefore, I've no doubt that had history taken a different course, Briers would have more than one Lance Todd Trophy under his belt, plus many more team and individual honours.

I agree I think it's a myth that Briers was inconsistent through his career up till Tony Smith arrived in 2009 and then he became consistent. It's true that in his early days he was a bit up and down and he got more consistent with time but I would say he became a really consistent performer in the second half of Cullen's reign. 2006 was his first really big season when he was IMO the best halfback in SL and has stayed more or less that every season since. Burrow and McGuire are good at what they do but Briers has been the best all round half in recent years. I would have said Briers before 2006 was similar to what Danny Brough is now.



Tony Smith's influence on Briers has helped through improving the rest of the team so he is playing in a team of winners, he has definitely mellowed since 2009, before then he was often frustrated with the team (as we all were) and so would lose his rag at the ref.



I think had Briers been at Saints he would have been in a winning side right from the start and so it might have settled him down earlier, he would also have probably won many GB caps and had a lot of trophies. He would have been regarded alongside guys like Andy Gregory and Tony Myler as highly decorated greats of the game.