Can't imagine we'd just release him off his remaining contract, or that Leigh would want to pay a fee, so likely to be 2022 rather than 2021.

Technically if he returned to Leigh at season's end would that be still classified as 2021?

We need him here this year IMO we've strengthened and appear better balanced up front but it's untested. He's still a good player and with a bit more front row help and without the captaincy I think we'd actually get more out of him, less niggle and daft penalties due to tiredness

I think releasing him is a master stroke by Price...from the captaincy I mean. I have been urging this for a while.

So we've been struggling for years to bring in good props, sign 2 to finally compliment Hill, Cooper and Philbin......then we let Hill go? This would be one of the dumbest things we could do, yeah he's not the force he once was but he's still a really good Prop and too good to simply ship him off to leigh. Sounds like pure poop stirring to me.
We now have the back up for Hill and Cooper to play less minutes and keep them fresher and better all yeatlr, captaincy off hill and let him play 20 mins a side and he'll be great for us this year, and less minutes for Cooper can only be a blessing.

Yes but IIRC Ryan Atkins was sold to Wakefield by us during his testimonial year and did lots of events with Wakey to mark it.

Can’t see him going anywhere this season

When the call comes to come home. They get homesick.

It’s bollox

Ha ha yeah 20 mins down the road, really homesick. Maybe next year when you're back in the championsip a 2 year deal would be great for him but there's no way we'd let him go this year. It just wouldn't make sense on our part.

He’s from Wigan not Leigh so if he’s homesick, he’d be heading to the Pie Dome.

Maybe he is missing eating proper lobby is there even anywhere in Warrington that serves it?

I'd be disappointed if this is true. Although he is getting on I still think he has more than 1 good season left in him and until he retired I don't think we could replace him with better. His contract is up at the end of this season, by which time we will have a bette idea if either butler and mulhern are likely to be good enough and resilient (avoiding injuries) enough to be Chris Hills successor. Hill makes the match day 17 every week for me so letting him go weakens our best team and is counter productive, yes we will lose him sometime in the nearish future but I wouldn't like it to be now and I really don't like the idea of it being behind closed doors, he definitely deserves to hear our appreciation.

Hill and cooper are still our best props, even with gb international philbin and 2 England capped in butler and Mulhern.

Next year maybe, as earlier poster states, if we have someone of equal ability coming in.

This. Hill isn't quite the player he was, but given his age, gradual decline is only to be expected. And yes, we all get frustrated with how many penalties he gives away and how much energy he has wasted on blabbing to referees, but he is still very much worth his place in the side, for another season at least. It's all about succession planning, and hopefully signing Butler and Mulhern has gone a long way to achieving that. Time will tell.

I think it’s an empty rumour but at least it is something to discuss!

I’m led to believe you have signed former Saints prop Luke Thompson for the 2022 season. Maybe this move has been brought forward which means Hill will be granted a release?

That would be some upgrade. Given what he's on in Australia, I suspect he'd need to be a marquee signing for whoever signed him.

Hill is like the Benjamin Button of props. He joined us as the masterful veteran, superb technique, consistent and composed, basically on par with Morley as one of the great front rowers of SL. Now 9 years on he is a promising but hot headed prop who gives away penalties and lets himself get distracted arguing with refs. Maybe in a couple of years time he will be a skinny spotty kid worth a spot in the Academy.

I so want this to be true if only to see the meltdown on a certain other forum! (It would be a decent signing in its own right, obviously).

In the days of Morley ,Carvell & Wood with Cooper emerging from the reserves ,i always though our best front row was Hill , Higham & Wood.

I'd expect Saints to have a "first refusal option" should he come back to the UK

This is a bonkers thread. Chris Hill leaving Wire to be replaced by Luke Thompson.

More than decent. He's a fantastic player, I'd expect him to go back to saints though unless they really upset him so I very much doubt this would happen.

Makes you pine for the days when it was rumoured that Scully was coming back to Wires, signing on New Years Day, as a friend of a friends cousin had done the wrap for the sponsored car....