JONNY Lomax has returned from seeing specialists in Ireland in good spirits and all being well should be back in the first team in four-to-six weeks.

The full back, who has had his past two seasons written off due to needing back-to-back knee reconstructions, has been out of action since March.

But coach Keiron Cunningham has been delighted with the way Lomax has been training and is looking forward to him emerging from what has been "a dark place".

Cunningham said: "Jonny is in a good place, now roughly 10 months since injuring it.

"He is fit and is light years ahead of where he was when he came back last time. Hindsight is a great thing though.

"The surgeon said it would be12 months at the time, and I have never known a surgeon to say that, it is normally six to nine months.

"He is four to six weeks off now, so he will miss a game or two and then we can filter him back in.

"He can run in the halves or full back - we can do lots of things with Jonny. He is an outstanding talent."

Lomax was considered one of the club's most exciting talents when he first broke into the first team as an 18-year-old in 2009.

And after playing along the back line he nailed down the scrum half spot in 2011 and stayed there until Nathan Brown switched him to full back in early 2013.

It appeared to bring immediate dividends for the player and the team.

Alas, injuries wrecked his 2014 campaign - costing him a role in the Grand Final winning team.

And his 2015 campaign was only weeks old when he landed awkwardly after fielding a high ball at Wakefield and severely damaged his knee.

It has been a long, hard road, but there is light at the end of the tunnel for Lomax.

And there are players on the staff at Saints - Tommy Martyn and Sean Long - who have both enjoyed glorious careers in the red vee after this scale of surgery.

Cunningham said: "They are bad injuries but Longy's was much worse than Jonny's and he came back.

"Jonny is a fantastic talent, he is the ultimate professional.

"Rugby league can be fickle and as soon as you are away from the limelight you can be on the trash heap. That is just the way it goes.

"I am sure Jonny will change a few of those opinions when he is back running around the field and setting up a few tries.

"Jonny has been in a dark place; coming back from back-to-back knee recos you are on your own.

"When you are injured like that you are out of the squad and the connection is quite strained and you don’t feel part of the team.

"People can be critical and hurtful but if they saw what he did, starting at 6am and finishing at 5pm, with his training to get himself fit.

"He is well ahead of anybody I have dealt with for professionalism - he is phenomenal."