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Chris Hill says pre-season camp key to Warrington success

Chris Hill and Matty Smith pose with the Super League trophy ahead of the 2016 Grand Final
Image: Chris Hill and Matty Smith pose with the Super League trophy ahead of the 2016 Grand Final

Warrington's road to the Grand Final began on a pre-season trip to Tenerife, captain Chris Hill says.

The Wolves go to Old Trafford this weekend, live on Sky Sports, with just Wigan now standing in the way of a first league title in 61 years.

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Hill has already led the side to the League Leaders' Shield and a Challenge Cup runners-up spot this season, their success a far cry from last season's sixth-placed finish and subsequent Super 8s exit.

"It's totally different to last year," Hill said. "I think our mentality has changed.

Live Super League Grand Final

"We had a good chat when we were in Tenerife for our pre-season camp where we changed our mentality around. We focused on what we wanted to win and we made it known we wanted to do the treble.

"We fell short at Wembley but we took one out and we're going to take the other."

Grand Final: Key battles
Grand Final: Key battles

Warrington v Wigan: Three key battles of the 2016 Grand Final

The pain of losing the Challenge Cup final to Hull FC in dramatic fashion, after leading 10-0, is still a spur for Hill who said: "I think sometimes you have to go through the heartache to make you a better player.

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"You don't want to feel like you did at the end of the Challenge Cup final. It's motivation in itself. Others might have different motivation, but personally that's one for me.

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Former Wigan player Phil Clarke previews the Super League Grand Final.

"I think the League Leaders is under-estimated, it's probably the hardest one to get. To be the most consistent side over 30 weeks is hard and so for us it was a great achievement but we want to go out with the big one on Saturday."

Hill was part of the Warrington side beaten in the 2012 and 2013 Grand Finals, and he said: "It hurts, it has for a few years, and hopefully we can overturn it on Saturday."

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