The Odsal crowd won't get under Sean Long's skin when he makes his return from a three-month ban for betting on his own team to lose the last time St Helens visited Bradford.

Long isn't expecting a warm welcome back from Bulls fans but

says he won't be bothered by the crowd's reaction.

"Obviously it won't be good," said Long. "I got a lot of stick off the other fans before I got banned but you've just got to take it on the chin. It's part and parcel of the game. It didn't affect me then and I don't think it will affect me now.

"Once you get on the field and start getting stuck into the tackles and get the ball in your hands, you don't really hear it."

Long, who has promised to come back fitter and stronger, will start tomorrow night and take over the goalkicking and captaincy from Paul Sculthorpe - one of seven regulars missing through injury.

The Great Britain scrum-half is raring to go after using his enforced lay-off to build up his strength with club conditioner Apollo Perelini.

"It's been hard but you've got to take the positives out of it," he said.

"I've used it as a pre-season. I've trained really hard with Apollo and he's got me really fit and I'm a lot stronger than I was. I just want to get back on the pitch.

"You can do as much training as you like but match fitness is a totally different thing. I'll be glad to get this game under my belt and hopefully put in a decent performance."

Long maintains his punishment was excessive but is full of regret at taking the actions that got him banned.

"At the time I didn't know I was doing anything wrong. To me it was just another bet," he said. "I bet on the horses and on other sporting events. I won't be putting another bet on this weekend."