STEVE Price says he is keen to tie Dec Patton to a new contract with The Wire.

Despite having played most of his career in the halves, the 23-year-old has been impressive in the interchange dummy-half role in recent weeks.

Patton has featured in the past five games off the bench and helped inspire Warrington to score 30 unanswered second-half points to defeat Hull FC on Friday.

Warrington-born Patton is off-contract at the end of 2018, with rumours persisting that Saturday’s Challenge Cup opponents Wigan could make a move for his services.

However, Price says he hopes to sort Patton’s future out “sooner rather than later.”

“Dec is in a really good head space at the moment,” he said.

“He’s really enjoying his footy and has been giving us a different dimension off the bench.

“I’ve been really pleased with the application he has shown to improving his football and I expect he’ll continue to grow.

“We’re keen to keep Dec. He’s a local kid.

“I’ve been open and transparent with Dec about it for a while now, but hopefully we can get it sorted sooner rather than later.”