ALL the campaigning and political battling paid off as all the dreams of the new guard came to fruition with the move into The Halliwell Jones Stadium for the start of 2004.
While all agreed it was sad to say goodbye to Wilderspool, the state-of-the-art Wolves den provided a platform to grow and flourish rather than living day by day with the threat of financial ruin.
There was no room for sighs of relief, though, on the opening night as more than 14,200 crammed into the ground – and overflowed onto the concourses – to see Wolves christen their new home and open the ninth season of Super League against Wakefield.
From the queues outside the ground, to Paul Cullen's press conference afterwards, Wolves' first match at The Halliwell Jones Stadium in Mike Boden's pictures
Party mood for the history-making grand unveiling was contagious even before Nathan Wood went over for the first try on the way to victory. Sadly, though, some supporters were turned away at the turnstiles as a ticket fiasco spoilt the occasion off the field.
Nevertheless, it was an exciting time, like the start of a whole new journey in re-establishing Wolves as one of the competition’s big guns.
And with the new Kolpak ruling, which stopped players from the South Sea Islands counting on the overseas quota, there was space for new signings Chris Leikvoll, Danny Lima and Jon Wilshere to join swansong-year man Mike Forshaw – a three-times Grand Final winner with Bradford – in sharing the new dawn.
Danny Lima
Mike Forshaw
Chris Leikvoll
John Wilshere
However, best laid plans and all that, Wolves generally failed to fire in front of crowds averaging almost 3,000 higher per game. After the somewhat surprising first appearance in the play-offs in 2003 there was to be no repeat amid much higher expectation.
A Challenge Cup semi-final appearance was considered a sign of the club’s new promise in contesting for silverware and it was a huge positive when Simon Moran successfully bid to become majority shareholder.
With the wealthy music industry promoter and lifelong Wolves fan at the helm, ambition remained clear through the year with the additional signings of international stars Henry Fa’afili and Martin Gleeson, who at the time was suspended for a breach of the game’s betting rules, keeping mood and signals of intent high going into 2005.
Henry Fa'afili, a New Zealand international winger, arrived mid-season
Martin Gleeson, a £270,000 buy from St Helens
SEASON’S RESULTS:
Challenge Cup:
Mar 2: Rochdale Hornets 0 Wolves 80 *
Mar 14: Oldham Roughyeds 10 Wolves 44
A Gary Hulse try against Oldham
Mar 28, QF: Whitehaven Warriors 10 Wolves 42
Apr 12, SF: Wolves 18 Wigan Warriors 30
Super League:
Feb 21: Wolves 34 Wakefield Trinity 20
Mar 7: Hull FC 24 Wolves 18
Mar 21: Wolves 32 Castleford Tigers 18
Apr 4: London Broncos 24 Wolves 36
Daryl Cardiss chases down the ball at London
Apr 9: Wolves 16 Widnes Vikings 24
Apr 12: Wigan Warriors 26 Wolves 24
Apr 24: Salford City Reds 18 Wolves 37
Apr 27: Wolves 22 Bradford Bulls 22
May 2: Wolves 20 Huddersfield Giants 26
May 7: Leeds Rhinos 23 Wolves 10
A try for Lee Briers at Leeds
May 22: Wolves 20 St Helens 50
May 28: Wolves 34 Wigan Warriors 18
Jun 6: Widnes Vikings 31 Wolves 10
Jun 13: Wolves 42 London Broncos 12
Jun 20: Castleford Tigers 10 Wolves 32
Danny Lima gives Graham Appo a bear-hug at Castleford Tigers
Jun 25: St Helens 28 Wolves 8
Jul 4: Wolves 22 Leeds Rhinos 38
Jul 11: Wolves 18 Hull FC 38
Gary Hulse is collared by Hull's Jason Smith
Jul 18: Wakefield Trinity 32 Wolves 26
Lee Briers distributes at Wakefield
Jul 24: Huddersfield Giants 18 Wolves 34
Paul Wood against Huddersfield
Aug 1: Wolves 46 Salford City Reds 20
Aug 8: Bradford Bulls 36 Wolves 22
Aug 15: Wolves 12 Leeds Rhinos 44
A try for Warren Stevens against Leeds
Aug 22: London Broncos 34 Wolves 26
Aug 29: Salford City Reds 6 Wolves 32
Sep 5: Wolves 24 St Helens 26
Sep 12: Wolves 27 Bradford Bulls 28
Dean Gaskell against Wigan
Sep 17: Wigan Warriors 21 Wolves 16
* Played at The Halliwell Jones Stadium
Lee Briers and Mike Wainwright celebrate a try
SUPER LEAGUE TABLE:
P W D L F A Pt
Leeds Rhinos 28 24 2 2 1,037 443 50
Bradford Bulls 28 20 1 7 918 565 41
Hull FC 28 19 2 7 843 478 40
Wigan Warriors 28 17 4 7 736 558 38
St Helens 28 17 1 10 821 662 35
Wakefield Trinity 28 15 0 13 788 662 30
Huddersfield Giants 28 12 0 16 518 757 24
Warrington Wolves 28 10 1 17 700 715 21
Salford City Reds 28 8 0 20 507 828 16
London Broncos 28 7 1 20 561 968 15
Widnes Vikings 28 7 0 21 466 850 14
Castleford Tigers 28 6 0 22 515 924 12
SQUAD STATS 2004:
Top try scorer Brent Grose against London
App T G Dg Pt
Graham Appo 18+1 6 13 0 50
Lee Briers 23 7 83 2 196
Darren Burns 18+4 8 0 0 32
Daryl Cardiss 19+2 2 1 0 10
Jon Clarke 30 5 0 0 20
Jamie Durbin 0+1 0 0 0 0
Henry Fa’afili 7 4 0 0 16
Mike Forshaw 22+1 6 0 0 24
Dean Gaskell 26 10 0 0 40
Mark Gleeson 3+24 3 0 0 12
Brent Grose 28 17 0 0 68
Jerome Guisset 5+21 9 0 0 36
Mark Hilton 24+4 2 0 0 8
Gary Hulse 11+10 7 0 1 29
Chris Leikvoll 14+7 1 0 0 4
Danny Lima 16+13 4 0 0 16
Paul Noone 19+2 6 19 0 62
Ian Sibbit 15+10 6 0 0 24
Warren Stevens 0+19 2 0 0 8
Matt Sturm 0+1 0 0 0 0
Richard Varkulis 4+2 4 0 0 16
Mike Wainwright 30 6 0 0 24
Ben Westwood 26 13 0 0 52
John Wilshere 8 5 6 0 32
Nathan Wood 29 15 0 1 61
Paul Wood 21+5 11 0 0 44
Ding-ding, round one, but David Solomona and Sid Domic hold back Nathan Wood
Nathan Wood and Henry Fa'afili celebrate a try
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