Hill relishes Wigan return
It was a winning return for Warrington skipper Chris Hill as the Wolves picked up the points against Wigan at the DW Stadium on Thursday.
The hosts led 10-8 at the break, but Wire fought back to secure a 16-10 success.
“I thought we were pretty outstanding. It was probably our best performance of the year.” said Hill. “Defensive-wise I think we controlled it.
The victory followed a 50-10 success over Leigh last week.
“They offer different things do Wigan and Leigh,” the ex-Centurions star added. “We knew we had to up it again this week against a good Wigan side that are fighting to push for the top four.
“We are still fighting to get in the eights.”
It was a performance full of grit with Warrington coming out on the winning side of the ledger in a close game, something that hasn’t always happened in 2017.
“That’s probably where we’ve lacked a bit of toughness,” Hill conceded.
“You can’t just expect people to give it to you. It doesn’t happen in Super League now, you can’t just turn up. I think we got that and there was a bit of a tough mentality between us all. We really ground it out.”
The second half saw Wigan lay siege to the Warrington line with several repeat sets and penalties keeping the pressure on the visitors, but they didn’t crack and swept downfield to score a crucial try.
“That’s what, at Warrington, we pride ourselves on and we’ve not done it this year. It’s better now than never. It gains confidence. It takes a bit out of the tank, but it gains a lot of confidence as well and we knew that we could defend it and were pretty solid.”
As a Wigan lad playing for Warrington, Hill admitted the result was important to him on a personal level too.
“It means a lot – my wife, my mother-in-law and father-in-law are Wigan season ticket holders,” said Hill.
“My brother-in-law is also a season ticket holder and my mum and dad still live in the town. I enjoy playing here (at the DW Stadium), it’s outstanding, the atmosphere is always brilliant and it’s good to come here and play.”
All could be sorted on Friday when Huddersfield host Leigh. Should the Centurions win, Warrington will continue to chase a top eight finish next week against Widnes, while a victory for the Giants will condemn the Wolves to a Super League Qualifying campaign.
“No matter who we have to play, whether Leigh can go to Huddersfield and do us a favour and then they lose again the week after, that is totally out of our hands,” he said.
“That’s where we have put ourselves. It doesn’t matter with respect if we’ve got to go to Featherstone or Featherstone have got to come to ours and we’ve got to go to London or wherever, we’ve just got to keep our consistency.
“Hopefully we will be in the top eight, but if not we are just going to deal with it and carry on with performances like this.
“It has been a frustrating season. There has been no lack of trying from the boys. We’ve all worked hard.
“We’ve just not put it in the right direction at times, and that’s what happens some years. We’ve got to learn from this year.”