Kenneth Jarvis, Warrington Wolves Blogger

The time ticks along, and the week rolls by … slowly. There is only one word on everyone’s lips around the town of Warrington, and that word is ‘Wembley’.

When I went to collect my tickets, the lady behind the counter said “Wembley?” instead of anything else. Not the Challenge Cup Final, not Hull FC, but Wembley, it’s a special place that fans of all different sports dream of attending. There is no other stadium that holds such an aura about it, such an excitement, and is more than likely the most famous stadium in the world. On Saturday in that stadium, the Warrington Wolves will compete to win the cup once more.

If you had to ask any Warrignton fan before the start of the season which final they’d prefer the club to be in, if they had to choose one, it’d probably be the Grand Final. In the Grand Final however there doesn’t seem to be the same buzz about town, not the same buzz from the players. It may be the sport’s grandest prize, but the Grand Final isn’t it’s grandest occasion. The Challenge Cup final is, because of where it’s played, a part of the world that has held so much history. I think even Manchester United fans would agree that Sir Matt Busby Way doesn’t have quite the same spine tingling grandeur of walking up Wembley Way. That being said, I’m desperate to be walking up Sir Matt Busby Way on the 8th October too, but that can wait.

I’ve only ever been to the new Wembley Stadium three times, and i’m sure any Warringtonian could guess which three times they were. 2009, 2010 and 2012, and all memories that will live with me forever. There is something incredibly special about showing your colours at Wembley, even if when we played Leeds twice, those colours were pretty much the same!

A lot has changed since our last win in 2012, and indeed it seems that only three players in the 17 that played in that game will feature for the club on Saturday. Ryan Atkins, Stef Ratchford and Chris Hill have done it before, and Ben Westwood too in 2009 and 2010. It’s a new experience for most of them, most notably Ashton Sims, Kurt Gidley and Chris Sandow. All three have come over to this country as star players, but none of them have experienced a match like this. They can’t wait, we can’t wait.

Since the glory of three Challenge Cup Finals, the bubble burst on Warrington with double heartbreak in the Grand Final’s. It’s great to be back in a major final again, and hopefully it’s the first of two this season. The players are incredibly excited about the game, or ‘stoked’ as Sims would say, and walking out to that Wembley crowd must be an incredible experience. As Tony Smith has done three times since his arrival at the club, hopefully he can get the players to focus on the job at hand of winning the match. Walking into Wembley as a proud Warringtonian is a great experience, leaving Wembley as the cup winners is even a better one.