St.Helens is one of the strongest-represented clubs in the 2025 Academy Origin series - which kicks off at Castleford on Saturday, 10th May.
The Saints have nine players selected, eight of which are in the Lancashire 21-man squad, and those young men are; Matthew Evans, Oliver Garmston, Tom Humphreys, Billy Keeley, Joel Kilgannon, Oscar Knox, Kian McGann and Alife Tate.
Our ninth representative is Chris Matagi who is in the Yorkshire squad.
Wigan’s Shane Eccles will be head coach of Lancashire with assistants Ryan O’Brien of Warrington and James Simpson MBE – a member of England’s Wheelchair World Cup winning squad in 2022 who has been head coach of Leeds Rhinos Wheelchair team for the last two seasons since retiring as a player, and who will break yet more new ground with this appointment.
Castleford’s Rob Nickolay will be head coach of Yorkshire with Huddersfield Giants stalwart Leroy Cudjoe again assisting alongside Matt Nicholson of Wakefield.
Each squad will also have a distinguished former player in a new role as mentor – Luke Gale for Yorkshire, and the Saints Academy’s Assistant Coach Gary Wheeler will be a mentor for the Lancashire squad.
There are two Origin fixtures this season, with the second to be played at Hull KR’s Sewell Group Craven Park on Saturday, 2nd August.
There will be live coverage of the first Academy Origin fixture on the RFL’s YouTube channel on Saturday, 10th May – with kick-off scheduled for 12pm (noon).
Take a look at both squads that have been selected below.
