Australian Drew was close to a return to former club Huddersfield

Brad Drew says he owes Wakefield fans a big season - and he started Super League XIV with a bang by inspiring his team to a shock victory over Wigan.

The 33-year-old hooker marshalled his side superbly as the Wildcats won 12-6 at the JJB Stadium thanks to a brace of tries from debutant Dave Halley.

"I think I've a bit of a prove to the Wakey fans after last year," he said.

"I didn't have a great season, a bit of it due to injury and I needed to fix a few things from my own point of view."

Drew was on the brink of a move back to Huddersfield in the off-season, but the Australian says he is committed to Wakefield.

"As far as I'm concerned, I'm playing for Wakefield and I'll be putting 100% into that this year," he said.

"It's nice to be wanted, especially at my age. Hopefully someone will want me next year."

In his first three touches, he scored two tries and came up with a 50-yard break so I think he can sleep happy John Kear on Dave Halley

"I don't think many people would have predicted that but we had a fair bit of belief in what we could achieve and we went out and got the two points," said Drew.

"We had a really good off season. Everyone enjoyed it and bought into what we want to achieve. When you've got everyone believing it, it certainly makes your job a bit easier."

Wakefield, 100-1 outsiders for Super League honours, never looked back after racing into a 10-0 lead inside 12 minutes thanks to Halley's scores.

"The young lad didn't do bad did he?" said Wildcats coach John Kear, who signed Halley on a month's loan to ease his club's injury crisis.

"In his first three touches, he scored two tries and came up with a 50-yard break so I think he can sleep happy."

After a dreadful first half, Wigan improved after the break and pulled a try back through substitute Joel Tomkins but never threatened to get on top.

The Warriors were a big disappointment, with Australians Mark Riddell and Amos Roberts failing to impress on their Super League debuts.

"It's important we stay focused," said coach Brian Noble, whose side were booed off at the end. "We've a tough trip to Hull on Friday and we have to improve immensely."

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