JONNY Lomax believes Saints can use the way the season ended as motivation to go that extra mile next year.

Currently on England World Cup duty, Lomax believes the challenges both he personally and the team generally overcame to get within a whisker of Old Trafford was a positive.

However, the collective hurt they encountered in the last gasp defeat at Castleford is something that should spur them on in 2018, rather than haunt them.

Having encountered more than a few ups and downs in recent years, Lomax has his own strategy with dealing with matters.

A deep thinker on the game, the versatile full back or half who will be entering his 10th season as a Super League player next year, said: “The hardships I have endured, and the negativity when you are sat on the side-lines being told that you can’t do this and are not going to that teaches you how to deal with the ups and downs and remain positive.

“Specifically I am talking about dealing with the injury in 2014 and then again in 2015 and it being mid 2016 before I returned.

“We just have to keep working hard as a group at Saints and stick together.

“At the end of the day, some of the fans probably don’t realise that the players feel it more than anyone.

“At the end of the day I too am a St Helens fan first and then I have the additional honour to pull on that shirt as well.

“Yes, there were some ups and downs last season, but I have dealt with those.

“You have to have the ability to stay positive and say ‘we just had to stick together lads’. As it was we were very close at the end of the year.

“On another day with a 5-3 scoreline and we would have been heading to a Grand Final, but it was not to be.

“You have to pick yourself up and go again.

“The day before the semi-final I had had a family bereavement. It was heart-breaking to lose my grandma. And when we scored that try with two minutes to go I was looking up to the skies thinking well she’s sorted us out here.

“But then the game went the way it did, which was gutting. But you can’t dwell on these things you have to go again.”

“Daryl Powell came over and had a word with me at the end of game. I told him we knew we were close to winning it but Cas deserve to be at Old Trafford for their work over the year.

“That is sport and you make your own luck. Cas got that slice at the end and took it and although we were gutted we could begrudge them.

“In the semi it is easy to look at the L at the side but on another day we’d have had the result.

“That is by no means saying anything about Mark’s kicking.

“It is a team game, we had more opportunities to score but bombed those, it is one of those things it was not our day.

The loss was as tough a defeat Saints and their supporters have encountered for many a year - but the 27-year-old has vowed not to be crushed.

“We have to remember that hurt from the defeat and take it forward to next season.

“We have to understand how close it was and much it hurts that we did not quite make it.

“It is something I tried to repeat to the lads in the changing room after the game.

“It is a difficult time to talk but I tried to relay the message that we have to remember this hurt going into pre-season.

“That gives an opportunity to start from fresh and work hard.

“It is not a nice time in the cold winter months, doing the running, but you remember the hurt because we don’t want to be here next year (losing in the semi) and another one per cent would give us an even better opportunity.

“We have to remember the hurt learn from it and carry those lessons and carry that on for next season.

“The positivity moving forward is great, but we have to shoulder that hurt and remember it for inspiration going forward.

“As a group sometimes we hold it in and try not to show how gutted we are. No-one feels that hurt more – then we go home and it ruins your weekend.

“The hurt was more because it was that close. If it had been a blow-out we would have said right this is what we need to do better.

“When you are so close you don’t know what has happened, but what a great spectacle.

“I have not had the heart to watch the game back to comment.”

In a rollercoaster of a year, which saw Saints initially struggle and coach Keiron Cunningham shown the door, Lomax had his own unique challenges to overcome.

Namely the arrival of NRL full back Ben Barba to take the number one berth, leaving Lomax to revert back into the halves.

It is something Lomax got on with, despite it hving the potential to be an unsettling experience.

The 27-year-old said: “In the back of my mind I was wondering and questioning, but as I said before I take it week by week.

“When the switch came you don’t get long to deal with it.

“Justin deemed this to be best for the team and then that is what I tried to do.

“Again it was a challenge for me but something I relished and thought I would take on the best I can, I have had a few of those challenges and have gone all right with those.

“It was difficult to be thrown in at short notice, but if you look how six and one play there was scope for us to interchange between our two roles too.

“So when Ben was a bit tired I would run his line and he would stay on the short side.

“Or if he was short side, I may go out wide or the other way around.

“The way you move it doesn’t make much difference, it is just the defending in the line.

“The lines that you run are very similar and sometimes you can get a bit more ball at six, so you have to take the rough with the smooth.

“To be considered a 1 or 6 are good positions and would rather that than be in Al’s position!”