Sean Long’s priority is an emotionally loaded return to St Helens as captain of Hull this weekend, but his long-term goal is equally clear — to coach at the highest level.

Long, 33, is on the last leg of an acclaimed playing career, which included 12 highly decorated years at St Helens. It explains why he refers to Saturday’s Engage Super League game as a “home” fixture.

Saints would not offer Long more than a 12-month deal. His subsequent move to the East Yorkshire club on a two-year deal raised some eyebrows, but his arrival has helped to galvanise the “Black and Whites” off the pitch, as well as on it.

Long said he could not be happier with the move, which will mean he closes one door but potentially opens another in terms of the coaching ambitions that Ian Millward, his former coach at St Helens, highlighted recently.

“He’s a great thinker about the game,” Millward said. “Come the end of his career, I think he’ll go on and make a quality Super League coach.

“Talk to Sean and you realise he really knows how to construct a game. People see the clothes and hairstyles, but he has a mind that is just as flamboyant when it comes to rugby league.”

“Coming from Ian, that means a lot,” said Long, whose flying dreadlocks have been a feature of the skills sessions he has been leading under Richard Agar at Hull. “I’ve taken my coaching badges and it’s nice that Rich has given me a little bit of responsibility.

“I’d love to coach. It’s a massive ambition. It’s like being a bricklayer. If you’ve been doing it so long, you must be a good bricklayer. I know rugby a bit because I’ve played it all my life. There are things I’d love to pass on, although all that is for after the two seasons I’ve got left playing.”

The reception he gets on Saturday from the St Helens fans is important to him. “I’ll be gutted if they boo me because they’ve been great to me,” he said. “Hopefully, I’ll go into the right dressing room, but it will be odd. I know every blade of grass on that pitch and I had 12 great years there. But I won’t be doing my job properly if I haven’t got my Hull hat on.”

What motivates him remains unchanged. “Fear of failure, that’s what drives me,” he said. “I’ve always given my best whoever I’ve played for and Hull are no different. I want to win trophies with them. I’m still the ultra-competitive animal I’ve always been, whether that’s rugby or a football game with the kids on the computer.

“I’ve been buzzing in training. Moving to a new club gives you that kick up the backside. You want to impress your new team-mates and it’s an honour to captain this club.

“Someone was having a laugh with Saints away as our first game. The nice thing is it’s just around the corner for me.”