LEE Briers has confirmed he wanted to stay at Warrington Wolves, but is now happy that the next chapter of his rugby league career is set on course.

The Wire legend's 25 years of service concluded after Wolves' season ended with a 'nilling' at home by Hull KR, bowing out of the play-offs at the first hurdle for the third year in a row.

Three-times Challenge Cup winner and club record points scorer Briers, 43, who had been assistant coach under Steve Price for four years, has moved on to a similar role in a new coaching set-up at arch-rivals Wigan Warriors.

The former half-back knew early in the campaign that there would not be a role for him at The Halliwell Jones Stadium in 2022, with Daryl Powell taking over as head coach and bringing his own backroom team with him from Castleford Tigers.

"Who would have known when I signed in 1997 that I would have been at the club this long," said the ex-Wales international.

Warrington Guardian:

Lee Briers, in his early days with Warrington Wolves playing against his new employers Wigan Warriors. Picture: Mike Boden

"It’s been a massive part of my life. It’s more than half of my life. It’s all I’ve ever known, it’s all my kids and Mrs have ever known.

"We’re all immensely proud and thankful to the club to have kept me on that long.

"It was a wrench when I got told I'd be leaving. It wasn’t nice, I won’t deny that.

"I felt a lot of emotions, but those emotions were only normal. I’ve had a lot of time to get over it as it was back in March/April when I got told. Now it’s a long distance memory.

"I thoroughly understood why. Daryl Powell was coming and wanted to keep his own team, which is fair enough. I was disappointed there was no role at the club – it didn’t even have to be coaching at the time.

"But when you get over that and you think clearly, I’m fine that we’ve got to go our separate ways and once I got over that initial shock, upset and disappointment, I was actually looking forward to what lay ahead."

After that shock loss to Hull KR last month, Briers said he did not spend too long wondering where it went wrong and instead looked forward.

"Once that last game was done, so was I," he said.

"I wasn’t going to worry another day why we failed – not my problem.

"Only people who made the big decisions can worry about that, and they have to because it can’t keep happening. And the last few years have been the same.

"I was a part of why it went wrong the previous years and I thought we’d fixed it, but obviously we’d not.

"Possibly it’s right that the coaches got changed because something needed changing and usually that’s what happens. Usually the coaches go.

"It’s going to take a club effort, not just on the field, for Warrington to go and win a Grand Final. On the field is just the easy part, but everything’s got to be aligned to be successful. The club are striving for that I suppose."

In a final message to the fans, whom he thanked for all their support, he said: “Keep supporting the team. There’s going to be ups and downs but just keep supporting them. It’s striving to win a Grand Final and it will get there one day.”