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.

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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

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Warrington Guardian: Skipper Lee Briers runs out for the opening match

Warrington Guardian: The Halliwell Jones Stadium on opening night

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Warrington Guardian: The West Stand on opening night

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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.

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Danny Lima

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Mike Forshaw

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Chris Leikvoll

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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.

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Henry Fa'afili, a New Zealand international winger, arrived mid-season

Warrington Guardian:

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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Gary Hulse is collared by Hull's Jason Smith

Jul 18: Wakefield Trinity 32 Wolves 26

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Lee Briers distributes at Wakefield

Jul 24: Huddersfield Giants 18 Wolves 34

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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

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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

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Dean Gaskell against Wigan

Sep 17: Wigan Warriors 21 Wolves 16

* Played at The Halliwell Jones Stadium

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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:

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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

Warrington Guardian:

Ding-ding, round one, but David Solomona and Sid Domic hold back Nathan Wood

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Nathan Wood and Henry Fa'afili celebrate a try