Eyebrows were raised when the Saints allowed Long to join Hull in the winter, and those concerns seemed to be well placed as he condemned his former employers to a humiliating 32-12 opening-night defeat last weekend.

But Mick Potter's men responded in the champion style that has become synonymous with them through the summer era, although their cause was helped by an often shambolic display from the hosts who failed to justify their heavy winter investment for a second week running.

Steve McNamara's side were beaten by Huddersfield in their opening match and were horribly off the pace here, missing numerous tackles and failing to apply any serious pressure to the Saints defence as the visitors cut loose.

Having made a number of marquee signings during the off-season, the pressure will now firmly be on McNamara, whose men had little answer to the movement of St Helens, for whom Wellens excelled and Kyle Eastmond, Long's replacement, ended with a personal haul of 18 points.

Despite missing Keiron Cunningham on what would have been his 500th career appearance because of a family bereavement, the Saints were quick out of the blocks and could have scored two early tries were it not for handling errors from Jonny Lomax and Francis Meli.

It did not take too long for them to hit the front though, with Jon Wilkin running under the posts with 12 minutes gone after Wellens had broken through and held up a pass for him.

Eastmond slotted the conversion and a penalty three minutes later, before Wellens got the first of his four tries when he ran on the inside of Leon Pryce and collected the stand-off's superb offload to score with ease.

Things got even worse for the Bulls before half-time, when a needless handling error from the otherwise lively hooker Heath L'Estrange gifted St Helens possession 20 metres out, allowing Pryce and Wellens to combine in a similarly devastating manner.

Bradford probed hard for an opening after the restart but their bubble burst seven minutes in when Matt Orford's pass was intercepted one-handed by Eastmond who raced 90 metres to score, before adding the conversion.

There was an obvious improvement in Bradford's attack, though, but when they did forge a route to the line Wayne Godwin shelled Nick Scruton's offload under the posts and the four points went begging.

Saints did outstandingly well to survive six-successive sets camped in the own half and then sapped any resistance Bradford may have had left with a stunning length-of-the-field move that led to Wellens bringing up his hat-trick.

Wilkin's break initially set James Roby clear and, after the ball was put through the hands of Lomax, Meli, Scott Moore and Tony Puletua, Wellens bounced over the line to score.

The full-back then brought about the second four-try haul of his career with nine minutes remaining, somersaulting over the line to rub salt in Bradford's wounds, although Orford did add a consolation try and goal in the final minute.