HOT on the heels of being announced as Saints captain, Jonny Lomax has now signed a two-year contract extension that will keep him at his hometown club until at least the end of the 2026 season.

That will take the 33-year-old’s service to 18 seasons – a remarkable feat given the adversity he has encountered and bounced back from during his glittering career.

The Billinge-born half back, who has clocked up 326 appearances in the red vee having come through the Saints Academy, has grown into a leader at the club since making his first team debut in 2009.

And in that time he has played wing, centre, full back and both half back roles and has long been one the architects of Saints’ era of success – playing in the Saints’ last four Grand Final victories, winning the Harry Sunderland Trophy in the latter of those in 2022.

 

Lomax said: “It’s a no-brainer for me.

“The club means an awful lot to me and I'm proud to represent it.

“It was a dream come true because all I wanted to do was play for Saints when I was a kid, and I've achieved another dream in my career with the captaincy.

“Having that opportunity to be captain, potentially over the next three years, is something that I'm very proud of, and something that I hope to do justice as well.”

Having been involved in Grand Finals, World Club Challenges and Challenge Cup Finals with Saints, Lomax is hungry to lead the side out on the big occasions going forward – just like his predecessor James Roby.

“I’d love to walk out the team on a special occasion, walking out the team at any time is special, but in the last few years in finals what James has got to do over the last few years in finals must be a fantastic feeling. That's what we want to do.”

But there is more to what Lomax wants to do at Saints in terms of reinforcing the professionalism, habits and culture of the club which has led to it being the elite team in Super League for a long spell.

Lomax said: “We want to instil good habits, good processes, and a good culture into the club. You want to help the next group [Academy graduates & players] grow, learn, and evolve moving forward. I suppose in some ways you become a bit of a teacher as well, that can be off and on the field.

“You want to have an everlasting effect on some of the people that you know hopefully will be here for a long time after I'm gone as well.”

He had a thank you message for the Saints fans for the they have given him since he first made his debut as an 18-year-old at Wakefield early on in the 2009 season.

Lomax said: “I think it's important sometimes for fans to realise that for all of us homegrown players, we were fans first.

“We work hard but we’re in some ways fortunate to take the field and wear that red vee. Every time we wear that red vee as a player, particularly when we were supporters originally, you know we do that with great pride.

“We want to make you all proud as well. We want to have good times and be together as one, our whole community, the team, and the Club, because we all want the same goal.

“We all want to be involved in winning silverware. I believe that we can all help each other in that regard.

“Get behind us and get excited. Thank you from me, but also as a team, we'll do everything we can to try and bring back silverware to the town.”

Head Coach Paul Wellens expressed his delight that Lomax has opted to extend his stay with the club until the end of 2026.

He said: “It goes without saying that Jonny has been and is still very much an integral part of the team, his professionalism and diligence is second to none and the fact he has achieved great success over a prolonged period of time is clear evidence of this.

“The club prides itself on retaining our best homegrown players and in committing his future to Saints it’s clear to see that despite achieving so much in the game Jonny retains the determination and drive to help the team to further success.”