SEAN Long is under no illusion about the tough test facing St Helens against Hull in their opening Tetley's Super League match at Knowsley Road tomorrow.

The Great Britain international will be one of the key players, as Saints try to improve on last season's fourth place and play-off fade-out.

"We had a chance of winning trophies but we had a bad losing patch, and by our standards we didn't have the best of years," admits Long.

"But we missed some important players and, when you lose four or five games on the run, it's always going to be tough to recover.

"From a personal point-of-view the best thing to come out of last season was having to step up when I needed to help the team.

"We could have had the best back line in the world but we were getting overpowered in other areas, so it's good we've signed some players to sort out those problems."

Despite home advantage against the Airlie Birds, Long isn't taking anything for granted.

"There are no easy games in Super League," adds Long.

"You can't afford to relax, even against someone like Salford City Reds.

"We only beat them 20-10 in a friendly this season, albeit the pitch was bad, but we know we can't relax.

"Hull are going to be a tough test as well. They were hit by injuries last season but they have strengthened, and the first game of the season is always hard for any team.

"I'm just looking forward to playing. Last season we were able to hold out for 60 minutes and then fell away for the last 20 minutes, so we have to improve that this season."

• Leigh Centurions' fullback Neil Turley has been named as the Arriva Trains Cup player of the round for last weekend's second round of qualifying round matches.
  
  Turley scored one try and landed 10 goals - including one field goal - as Darren Abram's team notched an impressive 51-32 win over Oldham at The Coliseum last Sunday.
  
  Abram says: "Neil's never been a great lover of weight training but he worked hard on the weights during the off season. Now, he's starting to feel the benefit of that graft."