BEING a 35-year-old rugby league player, thinking about life after playing is something on Chris Hill’s mind.
Despite rolling back the years in an impressive stint so far at the Huddersfield Giants, there will come a time when Hill will have to hang up his boots.
With Hill’s contract coming to an end when the 2023 Super League season finishes, he has spoken about his future.
“It would be nice to extend at Huddersfield, there will be a couple of options but we will wait and see what is best for me and my family,” Hill told League Express.
“I’ve loved every minute. i just want to enjoy my rugby.”
When the time comes to retire, the rampaging forward already has a number of irons in the fire.
“I’ve got my own plumbing business, that’s what I’ve been doing at the minute and I’ve just done a few quotes! We will wait and see,” Hill continued.
“I’ve not nailed anything down as such, I can jump into my plumbing if needs be. I really enjoy doing that and it is something different.”
That being said, Hill is keen to spend more time with his kids – something which he cannot do at present given the workload of being a rugby league player.
“We will see if any doors open when I do retire. I want to spend more times with my kids especially at weekends. It’s such a privileged thing to be doing sport wise but you miss a lot of your kids growing up.
“I’ve got two boys and three girls and they do a lot of activities which you miss a lot of. You’ve got weekend matches and then you’ve got your recovery, so I wouldn’t ming getting back to being a dad and watching my kids do their activities before all that finishes and they decide they don’t like their dad and move out!
“Whether it’s in rugby or outside of rugby there will be a few options there.”
Will we see the 35-year-old head into coaching?
“I have thought about coaching, maybe not so much being a head coach. You see Watto coming in at times and he’s stressed!
“I don’t think I need that I’m bald enough as it is! But maybe helping out the young kids and things like that with pathways and getting more kids into education and something away from rugby like I did.
“It’s too easy at the minute, kids go to college and do sport just because they can. It is an easy cop out and they probably don’t enjoy it because they are doing sport all the time.
“Even if it’s something like accountancy which is something you can fall back on in later life.
“I know I didn’t do much outside of rugby when I was at Warrington. I was very grateful but there are a lot of years after rugby.
“It’s only the 2% where it sets people up for life, but you’ve got to be ready for life after. I wouldn’t mind helping kids through with rugby as well as outside.”
