Potter knows quality of Long

The former Great Britain international, one of the most decorated and recognisable players of the modern era, announced on Monday that he would be joining Hull at the end of the season after 12 seasons with the Saints.

And Long showed no signs of any divided loyalties and had a hand in five of his side's six tries. Potter said: "Sean sets his standard high and if he comes in with a six out of 10 he would be very disappointed in himself and he's always up in the eights and nines and again he's shown that he can play."

He added: "His knowledge of the game is second to none and he's very good and given that next year he'll be here, he's given the fans a bit of a taste of what he can do."

Paul Wellens also scored a hat-trick of tries for the Saints, taking his current run to 10 in six, as the league leaders equalled a Super League record of 15 successive away wins.

Potter believes the full-back is still one of the best in the business after he was overlooked by England coach Tony Smith when he named his squad to face France in midweek.

"I thought he showed he is a quality player and fits in well with us," he said. "He's a player who's played a lot of games and knows what to do. His anticipation is second to none. There are not too many better than him.

"I thought it was a very tough match, the score probably didn't reflect how tough it was. I thought defensively we were very good and in attack we've got a little bit more work to do."

Hull coach Richard Agar admitted he was unable to take any solace from Long's performance but was pleased with the showing of his current number seven Chris Thorman.

"I wasn't paying too much attention to Sean," he said. "I got more satisfaction from our own number seven's performance. He was massively under the pump and I thought it was a real test of his character. We've signed Sean, Chris is out of contract and under scrutiny and not been in great form and I thought he showed some balls with his performance."