Bulls' Shaun Edwards may be the most successful individual in rugby league history, but his bulging trophy cabinet has space for one more piece of silverware.

The scrum half maestro appeared in no fewer than 39 major finals in a glorious career with Wigan that included seven championship wins, ten Wembley appearances and a World Club Championship winners' medal.

But he has had to settle for runners-up medals in each of the first two seasons of Super League - firstly with Wigan and last year with London Broncos.

A close-season move to the reigning champions was designed not only to end his homesickness in the capital, but to present him with his best chance of a Super League medal.

A marked shift in the power struggle back in favour of Wigan since that October transfer from London has had some suggesting a return to his old club might have been Edwards' best bet for more honours, and the Central Park giants were said to have made a tentative approach for their former captain.

The 31-year-old is now back living in Wigan, travelling across the Pennines daily with Lancashire-based team-mates Mike Forshaw and Stuart Spruce, and was recently installed alongside the legendary Billy Boston in the club's new Hall of Fame.

But he insists his loyalties are now firmly in Yorkshire, and he will be a central figure when the Bulls begin the defence of their Super League crown against promoted Huddersfield at the McAlpine Stadium on Friday.

"The Wigan interest was mentioned to me, but Bradford said there was no deal on the cards, and so that was the end of it," said Edwards. "I am just concentrating on playing for the Bulls."

Edwards underwent a knee operation last October which ruled him out of the Test series against Australia, but gave him five months to prepare with his new club for Super League III.

"I have a very slight hamstring problem which should be cleared up by Friday," he said.

"I've had an advantage in that I've had an off season with the Bulls, whereas I didn't with London. That's probably why it took me a long time to settle in down there."

The script went somewhat awry when Bradford were beaten in the fifth round of the Challenge Cup at Castleford, dashing Ed-wards' hopes of adding to his record nine Cup winners' medals, and the veteran half back is not expecting the Bulls to run away with the League as they did in 1997.

"Even though we didn't do well in the Challenge Cup, we're certainly fired up for Super League," he said.

"But all the people at the Bulls realise that the competition is going to be far stronger than last year.

"Wigan are going to be stronger, London have bought very well, St Helens are much stronger and there are teams like Sheffield and Castleford, who were quite 'easy beats' at the start of last season, but are obviously different propositions now.

"The only decent team in Super League last year were the Bradford Bulls and that's why they won the competition, but this year Super League will be a fitting name.

"For the first two years, the word Super was not appropriate. It was a good competition, but it wasn't super. This year it will be."

Edwards is also excited about the new Australian-style play-offs, featuring the top five finishers and culminating in a Grand Final at Old Trafford on October 24.

"It's fantastic - the best thing to happen to British rugby league for a few years," he enthused.

"It will keep interest in the competition all the way through, and the games at the end of the season are going to be awesome. You are going to get sell-out crowds every game."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.