MIKE Cooper may turn 32 next month, but his Warrington Wolves head coach Steve Price believes he is getting better with age.

With a new contract having been signed earlier this year to keep him at The Halliwell Jones Stadium until the end of 2022, the homegrown prop can continue to be the mainstay of the Wire pack for the foreseeable future.

He has certainly shown no signs of slowing down and head coach Price believes Cooper – currently in his testimonial year with the club – has been ‘playing the best footy he’s ever played’.

With that in mind, then, could Cooper follow in the footsteps of his great friend ‘Super’ Bennie Westwood and play on into his late 30s?

“I’m not sure if Coops wants to do that to himself,” Price said.

“He’s in the peak of his career and he’s playing the best footy he’s ever played.

“He’s been our most consistent forward for the past couple of seasons and I’m just delighted he’s re-signed for the club he loves.”

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One of Cooper’s most impressive traits is his durability – he often stays on the field for much longer than your average front-rower.

He even completed a full 80-minute stint against Toronto Wolfpack earlier this season.

Furthermore, prior to the sport’s coronavirus-enforced shutdown, only the Wolfpack’s Sonny Bill Williams had offloaded the ball more times than Cooper and teammate Toby King, who have both completed 17.

All of this caught the eye of new national team coach Shaun Wane, who named the former Latchford Albion junior in his 31-man Super League-based squad of players currently foremost in his thoughts for the Ashes series against Australia that has since been cancelled.

When one considers that the last of Cooper’s eight England caps came back in 2016, it is an impressive renaissance.

“I’d love to see him back in the frame for representative honours and really push for that England jersey,” Price said.

“It’s a credit to Mike and how he is away from football. He’s dropped a fair bit of weight and a huge amount of skinfold.

“He’s got a really good balance in his life with his work and his rugby.

“He has played his best footy as he’s got older so hopefully, there’s a few more good years to come yet.”