MATTY Ashton’s dad was in tears when he presented his son with his debut Super League shirt for the Warrington Wolves clash with Wigan Warriors.

Blake Austin revealed the emotional moment while singing the praises of a full-back who was playing amateur rugby league a little more than 12 months ago.

That’s commendation not to be sniffed at, coming from the Great Britain international with vast NRL experience.

“He was absolutely brilliant against Wigan,” said stand-off Austin of Wire’s new recruit from Championship side Swinton Lions.

“He’s been refreshing for the squad. I think he’s been wide-eyed since he came in.

“It’s a kid who has spent a lot of time in the Championship.

“We had his dad present his jersey yesterday. I think he’s been a Swinton fan his whole life and he said the proudest thing was to watch him play for Swinton last year.

“But to see his son in and around the Warrington Wolves team brought him to tears.”

Ashton kept the shirt for the season opener after catching the eye in the previous week’s friendly against Salford Red Devils.

“Man, Matty can cover some ground,” said Austin.

“All pre-season he’s been impressive with his fitness. He’s only slender, but he gets through the work.

“He doesn’t stop. If you got hold of his GPS data, he covers some ground.

“I’ve never seen someone get through that many support plays as he did against Salford in the friendly.

“He’s fit, wide-eyed and the world’s at his feet I suppose. He’s just enjoying it and taking it as it comes.”

The 21-year-old has been sticking to the ruck like glue in the games so far, making himself available for offloads so that he can then use his electric pace to further damage defences.

“It’s been an emphasis all pre-season that when breaks are made we’ve all got to be there,” said Austin.

“Matty’s going to be the one that’s always there.

“But I thought me, Stef Ratchford, Danny Walker and guys like that pushed really well against Wigan and created some inroads up the middle.”

It seems likely Ashton is getting an early chance due to Gareth Widdop’s ankle injury, meaning regular number one Ratchford has switched to the half-backs for the season’s start.

“Obviously we’ve got a pretty handy half in Gaz Widdop that we’ve brought over from Australia,” said Austin.

“Steve’s going to have a headache if Matty Ashton keeps performing the way he’s playing, to fit them all in.

“Whether Matty moves to the wing, or fills the 14 role I’m not sure.”

On one occasion in the Wigan game The Wire kicked deep early in the set to allow Ashton to use his pace and attempt to catch the hosts by surprise.

It is the kind of move assistant coach Lee Briers used to attempt during his playing days for the flying winger of the time, Kevin Penny.

It very nearly paid off, too, so can fans expect to see more of that?

“I can’t give too much away, but he’s lightning quick and he backs himself,” said Austin.

“That was his call and for a young kid coming into his first Super League game and saying ‘put the kick in the corner and I’ll chase’ I thought that was a big play. He was pretty unfortunate not to get in.”

Warrington’s attacking play, even with 12 and 11 men, looked more enterprising than it did for large chunks of last season.

“I think the brand of football against Wigan is what we’d practiced in pre-season, albeit being a couple of men down,” said Austin.

“We certainly spent a lot of time in the pre-season making some adjustments to our attack.

“We thought we were a side that probably lacked a few points at certain stages last year.

“A lot of the talk all pre-season was to have some courage to play with the ball, and I thought we did that ok.

“There was probably one or two kicks towards the end that were probably one or two too many, but I thought we asked a lot of questions.

“To push through the line like we did, with men down, I think is pleasing and we’ll take a lot out of that.

“We’ve got some wonderful exponents of the offload and on the back of that we’ve got some guys that, if they’re willing to invest a bit of energy and push through, they can cause some havoc.

“We’ve worked hard all pre-season, we’re really pleased with where we’ve got our fitness levels too and I think that showed.

“It’s a little bit cliché, but I thought we were the better side for a large chunk even though we were a couple of men down.

“We’ll take a lot out of it.”