The wait is over for Shaun Wane as he prepares to start his dream job of leading his home town club Wigan Warriors, who kick off their Stobart Super League campaign against Huddersfield Giants at the DW Stadium tomorrow.

Wane has succeeded Michael Maguire as head coach after operating as the Australian’s assistant for two years and says he and the Warriors are primed for action.

“I’ve been ready for a few months,” he said. “I can’t wait for it to start.

“The lads have been working really well. We had eight days in Florida which did us all the world of good.

“It’s been a fantastic pre-season. We’re a lot further on than I expected us to be at this stage of the year.”

Wane, the first ex-player to coach Wigan since Denis Betts in 2005, wants to stamp his own mark on the team and believes there are improvements to be made.

“I’ve explained to the players there were games last year we were winning quite comfortably at half-time and teams came back at us in the second half,” he said.

“That’s a problem with our mental attitude and I won’t accept that. I want us to grind teams into the ground.

“The other big thing is that, whereas Michael was very safety first - kick and let the other team make mistakes - if we see opportunities I want us to make sure we do a good job with them.

“We’ve done more skills this pre-season than ever before and the idea is that our skill level is so high that it becomes a low-risk play.”

Wigan have lost a host of experienced faces in the close season, with the retirements of Andy Coley and Paul Deacon and the departures of Ryan Hoffman and Joel Tomkins, but Huddersfield coach Nathan Brown expects the 2010 champions to be challenging for honours once more.

“They’re going to be hard to beat,” he said. “They lost some very good players but they are a quality team and they are going to be up there.

“Wigan do have a bit of an endless pit of kids and they’ve recruited quite heavily. They’ve brought in Ben Flower, who is a kid we looked at.”

Wigan lost out in the race for top spot last year to Warrington Wolves, who are the bookmakers’ favourites to retain the League Leaders’ Shield.

The Wolves start at Hull FC, just six days after arriving back from a three-week training camp in Australia, and Hull scrum-half Brett Seymour is hoping that can give his side an advantage.

“That will be one they have to get around because it’s a fair flight from Aussie,” said the 27-year-old former Brisbane and Cronulla player, who has joined Hull from New Zealand Warriors.

“They might be a bit underdone but they’re a class squad. I’ve played against a lot of those guys and they’re really good players, especially Michael Monaghan. He’s key to their side.

“They’ll be looking to kick the year off with a win as they did most times last year but we’re looking to have a good start ourselves.”

Warrington coach Tony Smith is confident his side can overcome their jetlag and is looking to improve on last year’s record.

“We’d like to start the season a little stronger than we did last year,” he said. “We didn’t hit the ground running, it took us a few rounds to get warmed up.”

In tomorrow’s other game, all eyes will be on Leon Pryce as he prepares to make his Catalan Dragons debut against his old club Bradford Bulls at Odsal.

The former Great Britain stand-off rejected the chance to rejoin the Bulls when his contract with St Helens ran out at the end of last season but opted instead to become the French club’s first English signing.

“We had a chat but it seemed like he was always going to the Catalans,” Bradford’s former Dragons coach Mick Potter said.

“He needed to look after himself. His rugby league career is short and he fancied a little bit of French lifestyle as well.

“I think Leon enjoys coming back to Odsal and showing what he can do. He’s a quality player. He’ll play some significant role in this game.”