SAINTS skipper Jon Wilkin is delighted the way the team’s attack has been functioning with three ball handlers directing operations and full back Jonny Lomax adding from the back.

Saints have gone on a seven-match winning run with a pair of settled halves in Jordan Turner and Luke Walsh, and Wilkin sees his role as complementing that duo.

It has seen a huge transformation in the team’s fortunes with Saints now in the driving seat to secure a semi-final spot.

Wilkin has been pleased to watch it all click together after some tough spells in the campaign.

Wilkin said: “You have got to work with the people around you, and mine and Jordan’s strengths are the ability to do that.

“When Luke (Walsh) came back in he brought in the natural half back, organisational, kicking game and that allowed me and Jordan to do the things we still like to do, touch the ball and play.

“My role is more linking those two guys together rather than running the show like I had been doing the previous few weeks.”

The club skipper highlighted some basic skills and attention to detail that have been transformed since mid-June.

 “One thing that has stood out has been our passing – it has been really crisp.

“It is basic, boring stuff in the game, but our skill in passing has been accurate.

“And under pressure, when our plays have been on, we have found the right pass and that is really important.

“I know it is a fundamental part of rugby, simple stuff like getting catching and passing in order is crucial and we have done that,” Wilkin said.

Another big bonus for the team has the way full back Lomax has grown back into the side after two lengthy absences.

Lomax’s input has been invaluable.

“When we are talking about linking players myself and Jonny have a role to play as we sit with the half backs,” Wilkin said.

“I am more in front of them and Jonny behind, but we have to follow them around and play with them.

“Having Jonny, a naturally gifted rugby player with a rugby brain, in the team is really important.

“This is more so defensively, where he has been really important.

“He is marshalling our defence very well and in the last couple of weeks he has got up to speed with that.

“He had such a long period out of the game but the signs are that he can only get better.

“He is talking and is a leader in our squad and will be in years to come.

“He has developed the talking side of his game and that has improved him as a player.

“We are certainly a better side with Jonny Lomax in the team.”

Leadership and lack of experience was one of those thorny questions which raised its head during Saints’ rocky patch when it appeared that the 2016 season was going down the pan pretty quickly.

Despite the late recovery, it is still something that is being addressed.

“Recruitment of experience, recruitment of pedigree and recruitment of quality will hep us.

“The club are working hard to do that.

“Leadership takes many forms – I don’t think there is one style; people shout and scream, some lead by actions, others do a bit of both, on the field and off it.

“We need more leaders off the field and a couple more on it who are great talkers as well.

“If they can be he same person then that is ideal.

Leadership is enjoyable. But it has been a challenge with that way this squad has evolved over time.

“We have lost the Sias and Wellos, vocal leaders off the field as well as on it.

“It has been a challenge but we got paid to be challenged.

“Jamie Peacock explained to me that experience on the field helps to change the way you are playing quickly.

“Inexperience, on the other hand, leads you to keep plugging away at something that is not working.

“Experience means you understand timing and momentum and how to change.

“It is something the younger guys are learning and the more experienced ones have got to push that message home,” Wilkin said.

So how does a team go from becoming a write off in June, to one that is in with a chance of emulating the great things of Old Trafford 2014.

Wilkin explained: “It is down to hard work and belief.

“It is very easy if you listen to things that get written about you or the team to get consumed by it.

“At the end of the day we are here every day working, we ask for people to get behind us because we have got challenges coming up “In the last few weeks we have found a bit of a way to play to win big games and we are gathering form nicely to win the big games when it matters.

“The most telling things that will be written or said about us, will be said in October.”