Sean Long takes centre stage against old friend Keiron Cunningham

Keiron Cunningham and Sean Long were St Helens team-mates for 13 hugely ­successful seasons and close friends well before that. So it will be a peculiar ­experience for them both on Saturday night at Knowsley Road when they lead out the teams as rival captains following Long's winter move to Hull. "It's going to be seriously weird," said Cunningham, who has served Long from acting-half in almost 250 matches for Saints – and another few dozen in their junior days together with Lancashire, England and a season with Wigan St Jude's Under-16s – but has played against him only once before, in a Saints-Wigan ­academy match in the early 1990s. "We were chatting about it the other week, sitting in the back of the stand watching our pre-season friendly against Halifax like two old men. I think it will be more strange for him, playing for Hull against Saints. He feels like he's never been away." The friendship is strong enough for Cunningham to go beyond the ­hackneyed phrase of wishing Long success against anyone but St Helens. "It could be a fairytale for him," said the 33-year-old hooker, one of four survivors – with Long, Keith Senior and Paul Johnson – from the first Super League season in 1996. "If it means us not winning anything and him winning something, I'd take that every day. "He's going to go well this year – I know that, because I know what he's like as a player. He reacts to pressure or adversity. Other people would run away but he loves it. We've had games he's played in where other people would buckle – after the betting scandal, when he was man of the match. I'll always respect him for that." Long will certainly be the centre of attention this weekend, although the inevitable fuss over his instant return to Saints has diverted attention from the other major signings who have revived expectations at Hull after two mostly miserable seasons. Mark O'Meley and Craig Fitzgibbon will join their fellow Australian veterans Shaun Berrigan and Peter Cusack in a formidable-looking pack, and Hull's coach, Richard Agar, believes that the athletic former Salford utility player Jordan Turner could make a big impact at centre. Saints have made fewer changes, ­relying instead on Turner's former ­Oldham classmate Kyle Eastmond to take over from Long at scrum-half, with Nick Fozzard returning to add aggression to the front row, and the New Zealand international Sia Soliola signed to solve last season's problem left-centre position. But Cunningham dismisses the idea that they are marking time before ­moving to a new stadium in 2011, insisting that they have ample talent to ensure a ­memorable swansong season for himself and for Knowsley Road. "I think we're in a good position," he said. "We've got a lot of talented kids, good senior players, and I'm happy to be going into this season with the squad that we've got. We're in with a great shout. "People have asked me about going on for another year so I can play in the new stadium but I'm happy to finish with the old one. My heart is Knowsley Road – it is a bit of a shed, but the atmosphere is second to none." Long's return will ensure it is rocking – rather too literally, in the case of the main stand – for the start of its last season.