BIG Alex Walmsley is calling upon the spirit of 2014 as Saints launch into the Super 8s with some real momentum.

And just like that momentous against the odds title-winning year Walmsley suggests the turning point in this faltering season came with the defeat at Magic.

After the embarrassing mauling by basement side Huddersfield at Newcastle, everyone outside the playing and coaching staff wrote off the team’s prospects of doing anything for the remainder of the campaign.

But Walmsley explained the team sorted themselves out after the Magic debacle and the results are there for all to see, with Saints hitting Super 8s in fourth spot after being eight points adrift six weeks ago.

Walmsley said: “The performances over past six weeks have been bubbling under the surface for a while.

“We are a team that has taken some stick, and rightly so, as there have been certain aspects of our campaign that have not been St Helens-esque.

“It has always been there but the turning point was probably the loss to Huddersfield at Magic. We had a frank and honest discussion after that and even though we lost a couple of games after that we could see the dogged fight coming back and we were ready to go.”

The team have taken the criticism on the chin during a tough campaign which saw an early Challenge Cup dismissal and some bitterly disappointing league displays, particularly at Langtree Park.

A dark cloud hung over the place in June, but the players have kept their heads up and found something to spark the year back into life.

Again, Walmsley recollected the spirit of Old Trafford 2014 as a spur.

“It’s a results business and if you feel sorry for yourselves you get left behind.

“To be fair there was only a squad of 25 and the coaching staff who really fancied us to make the top four and go on and still achieve something this year.

“We are fine by that,” Walmsley said.

“In 2014 we were written off after we lost five or six players and again it was just us as a team and staff, with the dogged mentality of never giving up.

“We defended our way to the Grand Final that year and it is going to have to be the same again this year and you saw that on Friday night with the way we got a good win.

“That willingness and want to fight for each other wasn’t quite there at the beginning of the year but it is there now in spades, as long as we want to put our bodies on the line for each other we are going to do ok.”

Having beaten four teams below them during their recent resurgence, Saints needed to get a result at Wigan not simply for the vital two points – but to show they can beat top four sides after a poor return so far this term.

That run will face an immediate challenge with a Super 8s fixture card that sees them pitched against the four teams occupying the top five placings.

Walmsley said: “We have had a great few weeks winning five on the bounce and to make it into to the top four was massive for the team.

“We are happy to be back up among that top pack.

“Wigan threw everything at us and they are no mugs so to stop them scoring for 74 minutes and restricting them to only four points was a great achievement for the boys.

“And that epitomises where the lads are at the minute and the way they are playing.

“We have done it tough for the majority of this season and we have certainly had our troughs as well, so to do that at DW in front of 20,000 was great. It has filled the camp with loads of confidence and we really are now raring to go in the Super 8s.

“Wigan wanted it as much as us, the rivalry meant is was always going to be an 80-minute smash-a-thon. They threw everything at us and we threw a bit back and thankfully we threw a bit more!

“We know how tough Super 8s is, but they will be looking at us too more than they were six or seven weeks ago.”

It all starts on Thursday with a trip to Warrington – a team that will present another physical challenge with Ashton Sims, Chris Hill, Ben Westwood et al not known for backward steps.

It is a challenge Walmsley relishes, knowing a slow start in this phase of Super League could prove fatal.

“Warrington are similar to Wigan in the sense that they like to bring themselves to the party.

“They are a big physical side, but we are not bad ourselves with some of our lads who want to get involved as well.

“It has been a case of one game at a time for past six weeks and we have been taking each one as a Grand Final, and that is the mentality we need to take into Super 8s and hopefully the play-offs.

“We take it as no second chances – if you start slow in the Super 8s you are going to get caught no matter how well you finish.

“We need to make sure we start well and take last week’s performance at Wigan to Warrington,” he said.