John joined the Centurions from Rochdale Hornets in the close season
following one and a half seasons at Spotland. He is a mobile prop forward
once tipped for the very top.
John originally came through Warrington's youth programme after excelling as
a Wigan schoolboy, gaining international selection to a 1998 squad that also
contained the likes of Waine Pryce, Leon Pryce, Danny McGuire, Ricky Bibey
and Richard Moore.
He made his first team debut during the Wolves 2001 Challenge Cup run and
then added four more substitute appearances in 2002 before injury hit the
young forward.
Once recovered, John was loaned to Chorley and enjoyed a three game loan
spell. At the end of the season, Hill was released and quickly snapped up by
St Helens for 2003. He played a prominent role for Saints in a fringe side
that took on Barrow in a friendly, scoring a try in a 16-18 defeat. Save for
a solitary first team appearance, Hill played mainly in Saints Senior
Academy where he was considered a mainstay along with the likes of former
Rochdale team-mate Mark McCully. It was at this point that Halifax were
looking for players and along with centre Chris Maye, he moved to the Shay
on-loan for the latter part of the season.
Finally, Hill was allowed to kickstart his career in 2004 with Chorley.
There, under the tutelage of Mark Lee, John played in 27 of 28 games, giving
a number of quality performances and providing a great platform up front
that the Lynx had been missing since the retirement of Tim Street.
As Chorley faded, a new club Blackpool Panthers was born in late 2004. John
agreed a deal for 2005 with the new club and an excellent run of early form
saw him score the first (and so far only) try of his career against Toulouse
in a Challenge Cup tie. Spotting his potential, then Rochdale boss Bobbie
Goulding took an interest, then swooped for his services.
That spell with Hornets started badly when John was sent off just five
minutes into his debut, but he recovered to play another 11 games with
Rochdale in 2005, giving some pretty effective performances along the way.
Darren Abram succeeded Goulding for the 2006 season and Hill played in 19
games for Hornets last term, used mainly from the bench.
With a look of a young Tim Street, Leigh will be hoping to bring Hill's game
on further in 2007.
