WARRINGTON Wolves and Wembley Stadium – the two go together like birds of a feather.

Saturday marks their seventh visit to the newest version of the national stadium in 15 years. Since rugby league returned to the country’s greatest sporting cathedral, no team has played there on more occasions.

However, it’s been a while – five years to be exact.

That may not seem long enough to qualify as ‘a while’ but for a club of Wire’s expectations, it is too long.

And when you consider the club have not really come close to achieving anything during the intervening period, being back in the Challenge Cup Final is something of a seminal moment.

That is not to say the struggles that have engulfed its biggest club over much of the past half-decade have dropped Warrington off the face of the sporting earth – far from it, actually.

In that time, Padgate lad and darts sensation Luke Littler has become arguably the highest-profile teenager in British sport, Great Sankey’s Rhiannon Dixon has brought a world boxing title home and Warrington Town have taken football in our little corner of the world to new heights by being promoted to the National League North.

There’s even been a Warrington winner at Wembley courtesy of Warrington Rylands’ FA Vase win under the famous arch back in 2021.

However, as we all know, nothing unites and excites the people of our great town more than the success of its beloved rugby league team.

At its strongest, the bond between the two entities is close to unbreakable but the recent periods of underachievement and disappointment has seen it take on some real damage.

Restoring and strengthening that bond was always going to be a key part of the job Sam Burgess and his players – many of whom have had scorn rained down upon them over the past two torrid seasons – had to do this year.

And what a job they have done. This team really cares about playing for this club and representing this town – that much is abundantly clear.

Of course, there will be setbacks – there may even be one on Saturday against an extremely strong Wigan Warriors side – but being safe in the knowledge that the team are emptying the tank and leaving everything on the pitch in order to avoid it makes them so much more palatable.

Make no mistake, defeat on Saturday will be gut-wrenching, particularly at the hands of “them,” but we can almost guarantee it will not be through a lack of effort.

And that is perhaps a victory the Warrington team can pack onto the team coach and take down to London regardless – as a result of what has been a fine season to date, the town is back in love with them.

They know exactly what they need to do in order to make sure that is not the only victory they can take away. They’ve already done it several times – when the pressure has been on, the Warrington Wolves class of 2024 has been laser-focused and razor-sharp.

If they are again in this biggest of tests, there is every chance rugby league’s oldest and most recognisable piece of silverware will be decked in primrose and blue for a 10th time.

And by making sure the name on the front of their jerseys is the one carved onto the trophy on Saturday, the ones on the back will be indelibly scribed into our town’s history.

We’ve had years of watching our neighbours pile up the prizes. They’ve had their turn. Now it’s ours.