St Helens tie off-contract youngster down with long-term deal as contract length revealed

St Helens have handed off-contract youngster Noah Stephens a new four-year deal to keep him at the club until the end of the 2028 season.

Stephens, now 20, joined Saints at the age of 15 and progressed through the club’s youth ranks to make his first-team debut last May against Castleford Tigers.

The Pilkington Recs junior, who only started playing rugby league as a teenager, featured 14 times in total for Paul Wellens’ side in 2024 having played two games at the start of the season on dual-registration for Swinton Lions.

Now, the Red V have tied him down long-term, following on from the retention of fellow youngster George Delaney who had also been off-contract heading into 2025.

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St Helens tie off-contract youngster Noah Stephens down with long-term deal as contract length revealed

Crosby-born prop Stephens won the Academy Championship in 2023 having also represented Lancashire in an Academy Origin Series that same year.

After putting pen to paper on his new deal, he said: “Im very, very happy!

“When I was younger, I wouldn’t have ever thought I’d be here doing this, but I’m here to do my best; to make the most out of this opportunity I’ve been given, to make the fans happy who come and watch us every week, and to enjoy it.

“Luckily I’m surrounded by a lot of people who have been doing this for their whole life and if you can absorb that knowledge that they have, then it will only kick you on further.

“I’m here for the long run.”

Stephens won’t turn 21 until October, but is one of a number of youngsters handed their chance to impress in a Saints shirt by head coach Wellens.

The Saints boss made his own senior debut for the club as a fresh-faced 18-year-old back in August 1998 against Halifax, then under the ‘Blue Sox’ tagline.

He added: ” We are really pleased with Noah in how he had adjusted to full-time rugby league and the impact he brings out on the field when he has had opportunities, and we only see that impact growing.

“He has the likes of Matty Lees or Alex Walmsley there to lean for advice to improve his game. Whilst we try to help as coaches, sometimes the best messages can come from the players around you who are experiencing the same things.

“Noah has to continue working as hard as he has and keep applying himself in the manner he has in recent years because he is certainly a player that we see being a long-term fixture at this club. He has already shown he is up for the challenge.

“We hope we at Saints can see him continue to develop, not just this year, but beyond with the extension of his new contract.”

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