Midlands Hurricanes and Wales wheelchair rugby league star Gary Preece can’t wait to get back into action after two years out of the side.

GARY PREECE has won 27 caps for his country since making his international debut ten years ago, but injuries meant he was unable to add to his collection last year.

Now, at the age of 43 and with the World Cup coming up later this year, Preece, sixth in the try-scoring ranks for Wales with 34 to his name, is ready to return to try and help Wales out of a tough group.

The Welsh open their World Cup account against champions England before facing Ireland and the USA. All sides are guaranteed five games in this tournament, but Preece wants Wales to be playing in the top half of the draw in the finals stages.

“I can’t wait to get back in my chair,” he said. “I haven’t played since I turned out for Hereford Harriers in the championship play-off against Castleford last season, so it’s going to be a bit of a challenge.

“I’m obviously going to have to take it a little bit easy because of my knee surgery that I had in November, but I’m looking forward to getting back to training and linking back up with the Welsh squad.

“We’ve a big year, so we’ve a lot of training to do and hopefully we can get that Celtic Cup title back and go into the World Cup with a bit of momentum where we’ll be targeting the semi-finals again.”

The Celtic Cup is set for late May in Edinburgh when Wales, Scotland and Ireland compete in the day-long three-match event. Ireland are the holders having won in style in both 2024 and 2025, but Preece is determined that they won’t make it a hat-trick.

“It will be tough given how Ireland and Scotland have improved over the last couple of years,” he said. “I’m looking forward to getting into this competition again. I last played when it was in Scotland so it’ll be good to revisit and hopefully we can take the trophy back.

“After that, I’ll be hoping to be in Australia for the World Cup. I’m really excited to have the opportunity to put myself in the mix for it.

“I toured Australia when I was with school in 1998, so it’s been nearly 30 years since I was there. I’d love to go back there again as an adult and actually appreciate the country rather than being a 15-year-old schoolboy and just messing about with my mates.

“Fingers crossed everything goes my way and I can stay fit and I can be selected. I know we’re being hosted by the Dragons NRL club, so I’m imagining that they have the full set-up. It’s going to be along the lines of what we played at Myrtle Beach in the USA a couple of years ago I imagine, a really fast pitch to play on and hopefully a good atmosphere.”

Wales Women will be out in Australia too and with that side playing in Parramatta on 1st November, two days after Wales Wheelchair face England, Preece is hoping that the sides will support each other.

“It’s getting more and more exciting to be a part of Wales Rugby League,” he said. “Since I’ve been playing, I can’t remember ever having any of the men’s or many of the women’s teams come and watch.

“We supported the men in the last World Cup in 2022 when we were in Sheffield and I think that all the teams should have a link of some description together because we’re all representing Wales Rugby League. We should all be there to pat each other on the backs and say congratulations, whether you win, lose or draw.

“So, it would be nice to have some home support on Australian soil and hopefully we can do the same thing and go and watch them play as well.

“This is one reason why I’m pleased all the World Cups are staying together. It would be really difficult to run and organise the tournaments if you didn’t have all three teams going, because obviously they all rely on the same sort of sponsorship.

“And if you’ve got all three together, then you know the sponsors are going to be putting money into all three of them.”

But before all of that Preece, has a new badge on his club jersey for the first time. Starting in rugby union with Hereford RU, he picked up career ending injuries over a decade ago, so turned to the wheelchair game with Hereford Harriers. He’ll still be playing home matches in Leominster Leisure Centre, but Midlands Hurricanes have now taken over the side.

“In many ways it will be a bit different,” he said. “The Harriers came out of Hereford Rugby Club and have always used the same badge

“It will be a bit different playing with a different shirt on, but I’ve played representative, I’ve played for Wales, so I’ve often played under different badges. It’s just that my main team has always been associated with Hereford.  

“Hopefully the takeover will give us a wider spectrum now we are linked to a rugby league club as opposed to a rugby union club, and as the club is based in the Birmingham area, we’ll hopefully be able to draw on more players and supporters. I know they have a loyal bunch of supporters who are hoping to come down.

“So yes, hopefully being with Hurricanes and being part of their foundation, it will enable us to grow our club and attract new players and maybe some different sponsors and then, being part of a foundation it can open up different avenues of funding within Sport England and people like that.

“We’re in the Championship again with seven other sides and I think there are four or five sides who could win the league.

“It’s going to be very competitive and challenging and very exciting as well. I think some of those games are going to be quite close which is just what you need for a World Cup year.”

First published in Rugby League World magazine, Issue 517 (February 2026)