Warrington Wolves followed up a poor 2022 with a rollercoaster 2023 season, making the top six but ultimately falling short of silverware as they lost to St Helens in the play-offs and Wigan Warriors in the Challenge Cup.
It could only really be an improvement in 2023 given how poor the 2022 campaign was, Daryl Powell’s side finishing eleventh and finding themselves in a relegation battle with Toulouse Olympique.
The board backed Powell though and with a revamped pack that included signings such as Josh McGuire, Paul Vaughan, Gil Dudson and Sam Kasiano the Wire got off to a brilliant start.
Super League’s opener saw them sweep aside 2022 Grand Finalists’ Leeds Rhinos and that marked the first of eight consecutive wins before their round nine loss to Wigan Warriors.
Having won those opening eight the Wolves would win just six more of their remaining 19 matches, ultimately seeing Powell sacked from his role of head coach.
There will be optimism at the Halliwell Jones Stadium though with Sam Burgess set to take charge in the coming weeks as the new head coach for the club.
That follows a temporary spell in which Gary Chambers steadied the ship and the club have a right to be optimistic as they’ve shared some impressive stats from the 2023 season.
It’s been confirmed that their round nine clash against Wigan was a record attendance at the Halliwell Jones Stadium.
The club also announced their incredible average attendance in Super League was into five figures at 10,891 for their home games at the Halliwell Jones Stadium.
That was a 25% increase on attendance from 2022, showing that despite the difficult spell there is still plenty of positivity about the club.
That will only grow with Burgess who has already facilitated some NRL transfers including Zane Musgrove who he formerly played with at South Sydney Rabbitohs.
Another recent boost for the club came last night with Josh Thewlis crowned as Super League’s Young Player of the Year.
The club website read: “The 21-year-old homegrown winger beat fellow teammate Matty Nicholson and Wigan Warriors’ Brad O’Neill to the accolade.
“Thewlis has had another positive season for the Wire in his development which included a first England call-up for the mid-season international back in April.
“He becomes the first Warrington player since Lee Briers in 1997 to receive the award.”
