WARRINGTON Wolves could hardly have wished for a better start to the Super League campaign!
In blowing Leeds Rhinos away, Daryl Powell's men put in arguably their most impressive display of the Yorkshireman's tenure.
Here's a few talking points from the 42-10 win at The Halliwell Jones Stadium...
The perfect way to start
Just over 11,000 people packed into The Halliwell Jones Stadium for this one, and the vast majority saw exactly what they wanted to see.
Aside from any return to competing for honours, what supporters most wanted to see was a team playing for each other as a cohesive unit and giving them something to get behind.
In a quite stunning first half, the team in white gave them just that and it meant for a red-hot atmosphere inside the ground.
Dominant up the middle – more on that later – Wire poured forward at will and it allowed the team’s creative players the time and space to wreak havoc.
Did we see the best half of rugby under Daryl Powell’s leadership? Absolutely.
Aside from the dislocated shoulder suffered by Matty Nicholson, it was the perfect start.
Vaughan’s stunning debut
Given how impressive he was in a struggling Canterbury Bulldogs side last year, eyebrows were raised when Vaughan elected to head for England.
As always with NRL imports, there were questions about the version of a man who has played at the very highest level Wire were getting.
If this display is anything to go by, he looks to be a man still very much at his best.
He had racked up 100 metres by half time and played more than 60 minutes overall, including a mammoth 55-minute unchanged stint from the start.
In the absence of Gil Dudson and Josh McGuire, Vaughan needed to lead the pack and he did so with aplomb.
Wire adapt well to enforced changes
The only thing that stopped the first half from being completely perfect was the dislocated shoulder suffered by Matty Nicholson.
It meant reshuffles were needed as James Harrison was forced to move out of the middle and onto the edge – and what a move it was.
He was probably beaten by only Vaughan in terms of performance and his try was richly deserved for an excellent showing.
There was more evidence of square pegs in round holes as the game went on – Peter Mata’utia and Daryl Clark spent time in the back row at times and that perhaps contributed to a slight slackening-off after the break.
On the whole, though, Powell will be delighted by his side’s adaptability.
Bench adds huge impact
Every team looks to its interchanges to make game-breaking impacts.
Given three of the four players introduced from the bench scored tries, it’s safe to say Powell got what he wanted from them and more.
Although he didn’t get across the line, Joe Bullock probably had the biggest impact of the four.
He probably would not have featured in this game if Wire had everybody available, but he served notice of his intentions to keep hold of his shirt with a powerful performance.
The same probably goes for Greg Minikin but he too did his cause no harm whatsoever.
More of the same please
This was an absolutely stunning start – but a start is all it is.
Quite rightly, Wire will allow themselves to enjoy this victory but the dust will settle quickly and focus will switch to Huddersfield Giants a week on Friday.
It is difficult to get a gauge on how Ian Watson’s side will shape up given it will be their first game of the year but in the most basic sense, a visit to a side that finished third last year is a tough trip.
Still, the way in which Wire completely blew away last season’s beaten Grand Finalists who were admittedly a shadow of the side that stormed so impressively to Old Trafford will only give them confidence.
It has been a difficult week with news of Josh McGuire’s long-term ban, but they will feel so much better for getting this first run out of the way in such impressive style.
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