I WOULDN'T say no to more of that.

As disappointing as it was that Wolves lost narrowly to St George Illawarra Dragons in the history-making World Club Series opener on Friday, the occasion was special and ranks among the great nights witnessed at The Halliwell Jones Stadium.

For many, excitement had been building all week, similar to a final – anticipation and also some nervousness.

After all, it’s only the third time Wolves have been in a position of hosting an Australian club team – and the less said about those 1997 hammerings the better!

Of course the Warrington fans wanted a win against a side whose NRL season starts next weekend but I also got a sense of the night being a showcase of Super League’s vast improvement over 18 years and a celebration of Wolves’ rise as one of the European big guns.

Some of the sport’s highly influential figures sat in the stand – RFL chairman Brian Barwick and chief executive Nigel Wood, along with rival club bosses Ian Lenagan (Wigan) and Eamonn McManus (St Helens) – would surely have sensed that.

Wolves’ new CEO Roger Draper was in attendance too, though he does not start with the club until next week.

Hopefully they could see the action between the flags being waved.

That was a nice touch, a free flag with every seat in a subtle nudge for fans to go bananas for the team in the bid to show the watching world on TV what a night at the HJ is all about.

It helped to raise the atmosphere to a level that has been missing for a while, which would have pleased Andrew Johns after his comments on Australian TV.

In the match build-up, the rugby league legend was telling everyone that the atmosphere he experienced on his Wolves debut against Leeds Rhinos in 2005 was the greatest he ever experienced as a player – quite a statement after all his major games with Newcastle Knights, New South Wales and Australia.

Tyson Frizell’s early try for the Dragons did silence a few for a while but the decibals lifted with Gareth O’Brien’s special try, Eto Nabuli’s flying head-high tackle on Kev Penny and successive crunching tackles by Super Bennie Westwood that helped to turn the early onslaught of the second half.

Leaving the ground, pride in the team for the effort that was given in pushing the Dragons to the wire was evident.

There was relief too, that Wolves had done Super League justice albeit with room for improvement in key areas such as kicking and game management.