Sandow failed to turn up for the start of pre-season training on Monday with speculation building of a return to the NRL.

The 27-year-old former Eel was in sparkling form for this season and helped the Wolves to the Challenge Cup final and Super League grand final.

Warrington confirmed they were notified by Sandow’s agent that the halfback has decided not to return to Warrington and see out the final year of his contract.

Warrington chief Tony Smith said the club would not miss Sandow.

“In terms of off-field, there will be a few less grey hairs around the place, that’s for sure,” Smith told Total.irl.com. 

“He was OK for most of it, and at sometimes he was a pain in the proverbial. He was a fair mix, he was certainly a character, as everyone had worked out.

“He brightened us up at different stages and was exciting to watch for a while, but he became a bit unreliable. For him to ring, well not ring, to inform the club, none of it is surprising to us.

“We knew there was risk involved when we recruited him in the first place. On his day he’s capable of doing some really special things, as we saw in the first couple of months of the year.

“We saw glimpses of what he is capable of after that, I don’t think he was as near as comprehensive as he was in the first half of the season.

“To leave it to the last minute before pre-season training started is pretty ordinary. Surprised? No. Disappointed? No.”

Warrington’s head of rugby operations Karl Fitzpatrick said:

“Chris is contracted until the end of 2017 and should have reported for pre-season training today. This is a clear breach of contract.

“We will be retaining his registration until further notice. We, the club, are disappointed that Chris has decided not to return, we are already under way in monitoring a potential replacement both internally and externally.”