Jonny Lomax

Jonny Lomax

Personal information
Full name	Jonathan Lomax
Nickname	Jonny
Born	(1990-09-04) 4 September 1990 Higher End, Wigan
Height	5 ft 10 in (178 cm)[1]
Weight	14 st 8 lb (93 kg)[1]
Playing information
Position	Fullback, Scrum-half
Club Years Team Pld T G FG P 2009– St. Helens 142 64 103 2 464 Representative Years Team Pld T G FG P 2016 England 4 0 0 0 0
As of 31 March 2017 Source: RLP

Jonathan "Jonny" Lomax (born 4 September 1990) is an English professional rugby league footballer for St. Helens of Super League. A versatile player, Lomax is primarily a full back but is equally comfortable at scrum-half, and featured more regularly on the wing in the early stages of his professional career.

Early life

Born in Higher End, Wigan on 4 September 1990, Lomax played as a junior for Orrell St James, where he captained the side for some years, playing in his preferred stand-off position. He attended Rainford High Technology College in St. Helens during his high school years. Lomax was injured quite seriously during a Year 9 Powergen Cup (Schools National Cup) quarter-final match, whereby he and an opposing player were both knocked unconscious in a collision. After regaining consciousness, he began vomiting and was taken to hospital, where he had to undergo emergency open skull surgery in order to relieve the pressure on his brain. Since then, Lomax has been synonymous with a protective headgear that he still wears in his professional career as a message to other youth players of the dangers of head injuries. As a result of his accident, BARLA made headguards compulsory for junior players between the ages of six and sixteen.^[2]

After his accident, Lomax continued his amateur career with Orrell and signed for St Helens professionally as a sixteen-year-old in 2006, after being on their books as a scholarship player previously.

St Helens

Lomax made his first-team début for St. Helens in 2009's Super League XIV game against Wakefield Trinity in 2009, where he helped them to an easy 42-18 win.^[3] Following his début, he played and scored in the 66-6 Challenge Cup victory over Gateshead again playing on the wing in a man-of-the-match performance.^[4] He notched the first try of his Super League career in a 30-6 win over Hull F.C. whilst playing on the right wing in June.^[5] He took his try tally to three in four games for the Saints against Castleford, where he was again named man-of-the-match in a 50-10 win.^[6] After a spell in the reserves, he played in the 40-26 victory against Warrington where he came off the bench to play in a dummy-half role.^[7] He featured, albeit in a brief spell, for a second time in the season against Wakefield Trinity in a shock 22-20 loss. He was injured during this match and was out of action for 6 weeks.^[8] On his return, he played in a left Centre role in a 12-10 win over Huddersfield.^[9] He once again featured at full-back in the 24-12 end-of-regular-season loss to Catalans Dragons, where he kicked two goals from as many attempts.^[10] Lomax did not feature for St Helens in the end-of-season play-offs, which culminated in a third Grand Final loss to Leeds.

Lomax's opportunities in the first team continued in 2010, with his first game of the season coming in a 38-6 win at Bradford in round 2 of 2010's Super League XV, where he featured on the right wing in place of the injured Ade Gardner.^[11] It was this Gardner injury that meant Lomax notched his maiden brace of tries in first-grade football, when he scored twice in a 42-12 win at Catalans Dragons.^[12] Lomax's form was looking threatening in this spell, and he took his tally to three in four games with a score in the 22-16 home win against Wakefield Trinity in the round 4 game.^[13] However, in the round 5 defeat by Hull Kingston Rovers,^[14] not only did Lomax's run of tries end, but his in the first team ended with a shoulder injury that meant he missed 6 weeks of action, which was ironically subsided by Gardners' return from his particular injury.^[15] On return, he played wing in a 42-34 loss away to Salford,^[16] and fullback, in a 68-12 win over Rovers, scoring one try and kicking three goals.^[17] His first appearance in the 2010 Challenge Cup came in the quarter-final 32-12 win over Barrow, where Lomax continued his try-scoring form and run as chief goal kicker with one try and three goals from five attempts.^[18] He shifted back to the wing for a 27-26 loss at Hull, where Lomax kicked three out of five again.^[19] He missed the next two matches due to injury, but kicked nine out of ten goals in a return at home to Salford, where he was on the winning side in a 58-34 success,^[20] and scored one try and kicked four goals in a 28-24 loss to Leeds.^[21] He kicked two goals in a 20-30 loss to Catalans Dragons,^[22] and four goals in a 32-18 win over Harlequins the week later.^[23] Lomax continued his run in the St Helens first team and played on the wing in their 2010 Super League Grand Final defeat by Wigan.

Lomax enjoyed a breakthrough 2011 season, forming a makeshift halfback partnership with fellow youngster Lee Gaskell that saw St Helens reach another Grand Final, however they were unsuccessful, once again beaten by Leeds Rhinos. Lomax was handed the No. 7 jersey in 2012 as a result and enjoyed another good season, scoring 14 tries as the club's first-choice scrum-half, however Saints' run of successive Grand Final appearances came to an end as they were beaten by Warrington in the qualifying semi-final.

In 2013, Lomax was moved to the fullback position by coach Nathan Brown and played 19 times, scoring 12 tries and kicking 25 goals as St Helens once again narrowly missed out on a Grand Final appearance. In 2014 Lomax played in the first 13 matches for St Helens before being ruled out for the remainder of the season after suffering a severe knee injury in a 42-0 defeat against Catalans Dragons. Prior to this, his form at fullback had seen him earn a call up to the England squad for their mid-season training camp.^[24] As a result of his injury, Lomax missed St Helens' 2014 Super League Grand Final victory.

Lomax returned at the start of the 2015 season, but lasted only four games before injuring the same knee, once again ruling him out for the entire season.^[25] His continued absence, along with the retirement through injury of Lance Hohaia and Paul Wellens, forced St Helens to bring in several short-term replacements, including Shannon McDonnell and Adam Quinlan.^[26]

Lomax was selected in England's 24-man squad for the 2016 Four Nations. He made his international début in a test match against France.

References