THE opening win of Wire’s new season was one of those ‘I was there’ moments.

In years to come when people talk about the try-scoring debut of Blake Austin in a battering of Leeds Rhinos, around 12,000 or so Warrington Wolves fans will be able to recollect braving the freezing temperature for the occasion at The Halliwell Jones Stadium.

It could not have gone much better for the club.

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Some stand-out performances, a team showing its unity and the third highest crowd for a season-opener at The Halliwell Jones Stadium augurs well for the months ahead.

Wolfie had brushed himself down and showed no ill-effects from being thrown out of the Totally Wicked Stadium from his spying mission on St Helens and Wigan on Thursday night.

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Inspiral Carpets man Clint Boon nailed his DJ set, the light show set the tone for a spectacular entrance, the fans produced a magnificent atmosphere and a mysterious athletic guy dressed in Lycra dubbed ‘The Wire Flyer’ went down a treat in the half-time game as he made his debut in easily winning a race against a fan who had a 30-metre start – laying down the gauntlet for all-comers during the year.

Fans’ excitement for the season was sky high before a ball had been kicked and the display on Saturday will have done nothing to temper that.

Ahead of kick-off, supporters were telling the Guardian why they think THIS year, more than any other year, is ‘our year’.

Tony Gandy from Grappenhall said: “Because we’ve got more players and more versatility within the team, we can move people around.

Warrington Guardian:

“Secondly, with the new law changes that sees eight interchanges off the bench instead of 10, it will benefit our team.”

Jamie Chippendale, 11, travels to games with his grandad from Darwen, Lancashire, and he feels the performances of two players in particularly could have a baring on whether this is ‘our year’ or not.

“Because we’ve signed Blake Austin we’ve got two magicians in the squad now,” he said.

“We’ve got the playmaker in Austin and the try scorer in Charnley.

Warrington Guardian:

“So this is better off being our year.”

His grandad Colin Wellington added his thoughts on why this will be a successful season.

“The extra spark that has been put into the team with Blake Austin and Jason Clark,” he said.

Warrington Guardian:

“And I think they can move a few players about, fit Mamo in at full-back and move Ratchford up into the centres.

“Things can be changed and teams might not expect us.”

Julie Wright believes the impact of losing in both finals last year could play a part.

“I think after the disappointment of last year it hurt them,” she said.

“We’ve still got guys from the team last year and they want it now.

Warrington Guardian:

“So they’ve got to go that one step bigger now. They’ve got to do it.”

Joe Mannion from Latchford feels the head coach is key.

“With it being Steve Price’s second season, he knows what to expect of the players now,” he said.

Warrington Guardian:

“So hopefully we’re going to get there and do it.”

Competition for places could be the difference, believes Adam Jones from Eccles.

“I just think we’ve got the squad depth this year,” he said.

“Last year’s depth didn’t have the quality of this year.

Warrington Guardian:

“We’ve got players fighting for positions, like Mamo fighting for full-back with Ratchford.

“As we can see with Kevin Brown sadly injured and Dec Patton coming in, we’ve now got the opportunity for players that if the main players get injured there is back-up.

“So Pricey’s got a selection headache but I think he knows his 1 to 13 every week really.”

For Wesley Lake from Ormskirk it is simple why The Wire could be celebrating at the end of the campaign.

Warrington Guardian:

“Because we’ve built a team that should bring us the silverware that we want,” he said.

And finally Jenny Blackledge believes it would be a fitting year to deliver the goods.

“They’ve got to do it for Ryan Atkins in his Testimonial year,” she said.

“He’s my favourite player.”

Warrington Guardian: