Editing Warrington Wolves (section)

===Late 1970s to mid-1990s===
In 1978, Warrington appointed [[Billy Benyon]] as Alex Murphy's successor. A solid year-round performance saw Warrington finish second in the league, losing only 8 matches all year. A major highlight of the season was the controversial 15–12 victory over the [[Ashes series (rugby league)|Ashes]]-winning [[1978 Kangaroo tour]]ists. For the second year running the club reached the John Player Trophy final, but were unable to repeat the previous year's victory, the match going to Widnes by 16–4.<ref>{{cite web|title=Changing Times|url=http://www.warringtonwolves.org/changing-times|publisher=Warrington Wolves|access-date=24 February 2012}}</ref>

Wire celebrated their centenary in 1979 owing to an erroneous belief that the club had been founded in 1879 rather than 1876.

The 1980–1 season brought the [[Rugby league county cups|Lancashire Cup]] and the John Player Trophy. After consistently good performances in the league, they were league championship runners-up. They also won the 1985 Premiership Trophy final against Halifax. Warrington also made it to the [[1986–87 League Cup (rugby league)|1986–87 John Player Special Trophy]] held at [[Burnden Park]] but were beaten 4–18 by [[Wigan Warriors|Wigan]].

Warrington had another new coach in 1982, their former Challenge Cup medal winner [[Kevin Ashcroft]]. Benyon was later to win an unfair dismissal case against Warrington. Ashcroft steered Warrington to Lancashire Cup glory in his first full season, a year marred by the Wilderspool fire which wiped out the complete main stand.

Warrington and Ashcroft parted company in May 1984, despite Ashcroft still having two years on his contract. [[Reg Bowden]], Wire's third new coach in six years, took over. Bowden's two-year spell as coach was notable for some of his signings, most notably a world record fee for Great Britain and Widnes scrum half [[Andy Gregory]], rather than success on the field. The new signings didn't bring success, and Bowden resigned and assistant coach [[Tony Barrow (rugby league, born 1944)|Tony Barrow]] took over as caretaker coach in March 1986.

Success soon followed. A home win against Widnes and away to Wigan put Wire in the final of the Premiership Trophy against champions Halifax at Elland Road. Wire ran out 38–10 winners. In 1986–7, Wire finished third place in the league and runners-up in the John Player Trophy and in the revamped Premiership Trophy.

Australian [[Brian Johnson (rugby league)|Brian Johnson]] was appointed the club's head coach and manager in 1988.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://fulltext.ausport.gov.au/fulltext/2001/ascmedia/20010730.asp|title=Former St George Fullback Brian Johnson Appointed Head Coach of AIS/ARL Rugby League Program|publisher=Australian Sports Commission|date=30 July 2001|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131112231904/http://fulltext.ausport.gov.au/fulltext/2001/ascmedia/20010730.asp|archive-date=12 November 2013}}</ref> Warrington won the Lancashire Cup final a year later in 1989. In 1990 Warrington made it to the final of the [[Challenge Cup]] at [[Wembley Stadium (1923)|Wembley Stadium]] and faced arch rivals Wigan. Warrington lost 34–16 and this is the last appearance in the Challenge Cup final before their success in 2009.

Warrington won the [[League Cup (rugby league)|Regal Trophy]] in 1991 beating [[Bradford Bulls|Bradford Northern]] 12–2 at [[Headingley Rugby Stadium|Headingley]], Leeds. In June 1993 due to financial pressures, Warrington listed 13 players for a total of £340k when they refused lower contract payments. Warrington made it to the final of the Regal Trophy in 1994 but lost 40–10 to Wigan at [[Galpharm Stadium|McAlpine Stadium]], [[Huddersfield]], they also came close to winning the championship finishing third on points difference behind Wigan and Bradford. The following season, Warrington made the Regal Trophy final once more, again losing to Wigan.

With the advent of [[Super League]], several mergers between clubs were proposed. Warrington were scheduled to merge with [[Widnes Vikings|Widnes]] to form ''Cheshire'' who would compete in Super League. This brought an outcry from both sets of fans, and Warrington were awarded a place in the Super League as an unmerged side.

The need to switch to summer, led to a truncated 1995–6 season which ran from August–January, with October reserved for the World Cup. Despite Warrington's mediocre league form, they found themselves in the semi-final of the Regal Trophy at St Helens. This ended in an 80–0 defeat which brought about the departure of coach Brian Johnson, and a run of seven defeats.