Francis Cummins enjoyed a dream start to his role of head coach as new-look Bradford overwhelmed a disappointing Wakefield 40-6 at the Provident Stadium.
Jamie Foster, Matty Blythe and Adam Sidlow all scored tries on debut as the Bulls, embarking on a re-building phase after almost going under last year, dominated the West Yorkshire derby from start to finish.
Foster, a specialist winger filling in at full-back, also kicked six goals from seven attempts to finish with a 16-point haul, while man of the match Jarrod Sammut helped offset the absence of the injured Luke Gale at scrum-half with a brace of opportunist tries.
Much was expected of the Wildcats, who won their last seven league games of 2012 to snatch the last play-off spot from the Bulls, but they could not match the energy and enthusiasm of Cummins' superbly-drilled outfit.
The visitors also sorely missed last year's player of the year Tim Smith, who is still recovering from an ankle injury sustained in a pre-season friendly, but coach Richard Agar will be alarmed at the ease with which their opponents broke through the heart of their defence.
The Bulls had a spring in their step from the kick-off and opened the scoring with a scintillating eight-man handling move.
The lively Sammut made the decisive break and Foster handled twice before Chev Walker provided the final pass for winger Michael Platt, who crossed at the corner to make up for earlier dropping a tryscoring pass from Tom Olbison.
Foster then came up with the tryscoring pass for Blythe to go through a gap in the fragile Wakefield defence wide out, and Sidlow took Matt Diskin's short pass to crash over for Bradford's third try.
Foster kicked all three conversions to make it 18-0 and Bradford added a fourth try five minutes before half-time through the mercurial Sammut, who broke through the visitors' first line of defence and held off full-back Richard Mathers in a sprint to the corner.
Any hint of a Wakefield fightback was snuffed out within seven minutes of the re-start when Foster raced on to a grubber kick by Brett Kearney, who switched effectively from full-back to stand-off.
Sammut then jinked his way over for his second try and Foster's goal made it 34-0, but Wakefield avoided a whitewash when skipper Danny Kirmond blocked Sammut's kick and centre Dean Collis gathered the loose ball to race 70 metres for a try.
Former Bradford half-back Paul Sykes kicked the conversion but the Wildcats continued to spend most of the game penned inside their own half, and the Bulls rounded off the scoring with a seventh try from Kearney nine minutes from the end.
New Bradford coach Francis Cummins will give debuts to Adam Sidlow, Matty Blythe and Jamie Foster for the visit of Wakefield on Sunday.
Second rower James Donaldson is set to make his first Super League appearance for almost 12 months after recovering from a knee injury. He is likely to take the place of the injured John Bateman, while Danny Addy is expected to link up with Ben Sammut at half-back in place of the injured Luke Gale.
Australian prop Justin Poore makes his Super League debut for the Wildcats, while fellow newcomer Reece Lyne gets a chance at centre in place of the injured Lee Smith.
Prop Andy Raleigh is also injured, which could pave the way for loan signing Brad Singleton to make his debut, while coach Richard Agar will give late fitness checks to half-backs Tim Smith and Kyle Wood.
Bradford did the double over Wakefield last season, but it was the Wildcats who reached the play-offs after a stirring fnish to the campaign.
Agar told the Wakefield club website: "As the year went on we learnt how to win, we learnt how to handle different situations and it transpired that we got some good form going.
"This year's different in that last year we had 17 new players whereas this year we have only three. There is a lot more continuity in the squad and there is more stability which for us should equal some more consistency."
"Every coach in the competition will want a winning start; I think that goes without saying. We're playing a Bradford team with a new head coach in the form of Francis Cummins and I'm pretty sure he'll want to get that monkey off his back as early as he can.
"We want to go out there and give a performance and hopefully it's good enough to take the result and the two points. Any two points in this competition you will take and you will take it however it comes about, we're no different."
Bradford squad: Donaldson, Sidlow, Platt, Manuokafoa, Langley, Diskin, Kearney, Scruton, L'Estrange, Blythe, Lulia, Whitehead, Sammut, Addy, Olbison, C Walker, Murphy, Foster, Kear.
Wakefield squad: Mathers, Fox, Collis, Lyne, Cockayne, Sykes, Wildie, Poore, Aiton, Amor, Wilkes, Singleton, Mariano, Lauitiiti, Kirmond, Washbrook, T Smith, Wood, Annakin.
Wakefield are using modern medical technology in an attempt to help playmaker Tim Smith recover from an ankle injury in time for Sunday's opening Super League game at Bradford.
The Australian half-back, who was the Wildcats' player of the year after inspiring them to reach the 2012 play-offs, was expected to miss the start of the new season after damaging ankle ligaments against St Helens earlier this month.
But the club have turned to cryotherapy, which involves the treatment of injuries through exposure to freezing cold temperatures, in a bid to speed up Smith's recovery and coach Richard Agar will give him until Saturday to prove his fitness.
"The club have invested in a cryogenic compression machine," said Agar at Wakefield's pre-season media day. "He's had round-the-clock work on his ankle.
"We got the machine in the day after he got injured and he's made really significant progress.
"We're going to get him on the field on Saturday morning but I'm not going to rush him back. If we get him back this week it will be a week before we expected.
"He's making terrific progress but, unless we know he's 100% right, we won't play him because he's too important to us. I'd say he was less than 50-50.
"It's his right foot so I need to know he can kick the ball with as much power as he can when he's fully fit. There's 27 rounds to play so I'm not going to take any risks."
With fellow half-back Kyle Wood also expected to miss the opening game due to a detached retina, Agar had been planning to utilise Isaac John or Matty Wildie as Paul Sykes' half-back partner but he could be spoilt for choice by the weekend.
"Kyle is at a specialist as we speak and, if he gets the all-clear, he's ready," added Agar.
"He's been training with us all week but we've had to keep him out of any contact until we get the all-clear."
Meanwhile, Agar confirmed that 20-year-old Reece Lyne will make his debut against the Bulls in the absence of centre Lee Smith, who dislocated a thumb in training.
Lyne joined the club in the close season from Hull and impressed during the club's trial matches.