Back from his spell in the NRL, Will Pryce displays the qualities, confidence and ambition of his father having stepped into Leon’s old jersey at Hull FC.
WHEN Will Pryce signed for Hull FC at the end of March, there was no doubt at all which squad number he would be taking.
Seeing ‘Pryce 6’ on the back of a black and white shirt, a decade on from dad Leon wearing just the same, is no problem for a young man who has always embraced his family name rather than let it be a burden.
“When I was younger, people looked at me differently just because I was my dad’s son,” he says.
“When I was going into scholarship, no one wanted a piece of me because I was my dad’s son. My dad let me know pretty early that I would have to deal with that. It’s something I just had to get on with.
“I’ve had it since I was 13, people knowing who I am, so you get over it by the time you’re 16/17. Playing week in week out, people making good or snide comments about me, my last name and my dad, it’s something I’ve just brushed off. It doesn’t bother me.
“If anything, it just makes me strive to keep our last name in rugby league and make it bigger.”
It’s fair to say Pryce has already stepped out of the shadows of his father, who made over 500 career appearances including 25 Great Britain or England caps, and made his own name.
But he’s more than happy to acknowledge the part that Leon has played in Will being the player, and person, he is.
“I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’ve loved my upbringing,” he adds.
“If it wasn’t for the people in my family, the people around me when I was so young, teaching me the things I have, my dad teaching me how to deal with the pressures of rugby league off the field and on the field, I wouldn’t be in the position I am now.
“When it’s not going so well, he knows how to deal with it. We all say rugby league is a rollercoaster. One minute you’re up, the next minute you’re down. Everyone can love you, and the next week everyone can hate you.”
Still only 22, he has had a fair few highs and lows already in his career.
He came through the youth ranks at Huddersfield, making his first-team debut in July 2021 and becoming an almost immediate regular at 18.
Although his first full season was disrupted by a ten-match ban for a dangerous tackle, leading to him being left out of the team for a Challenge Cup Final, by the end of 2022 Pryce had signed a two-year deal with Newcastle Knights.
After a final year with the Giants, taking him up to 17 tries in 45 games, he headed for the unknown in Australia.
That he is back in England before seeing out that contract suggests all didn’t go to plan, having played only five games – but Pryce insists that isn’t how he sees it.
“I left when I’d just turned 20. I hadn’t lived by myself before in my life so I didn’t know how to cook, clean, pay bills or open bank accounts. All this stuff you do with your parents’ guidance, I did by myself. That makes you grow up a bit more.
“I had to learn to look after myself, make decisions, make mistakes and learn from them. That first year I probably made a lot of mistakes, but they’re the best things that happened to me. I’ve completely changed as a person and feel I’m a lot more mature.
“People will comment on my career so far and say I went over there too young, I was a failure and couldn’t crack it in the NRL, that’s just their opinion. I had a purpose in moving over there, what it would do for my career, and I think it’s put me in good stead.”
Like most Englishmen (and now women) before him, Pryce was astonished by the professional standards set down under.
He adds: “The lifestyle is completely different. There was a massive culture shock. Waking up early, going for swims at the beach before training, it’s a very healthy lifestyle and one I had to adapt to. They’re crazy athletes.”
That extended to the matches as well – “I think in my second game I made something like 38 tackles. I’d never made that many tackles in a game! I couldn’t comprehend how hard it was, but it was enjoyable.”
Particularly his debut, in which he scored his only NRL try in a victory over Parramatta at the end of June.
“It was one of, if not the best day of my life so far. I’ve dreamed of that moment since I was eight or nine,” says Pryce.
“It was such a good feeling, the pride of getting out there, having my family out there – I’d not seen my mum and dad and my little brother for about eight months.
“It was such a tough game and I had cramp with half an hour left – my body was completely gone. I was euphoric, I’ve never experienced anything like it before.”
Those appearances at the back end of last season gave Pryce confidence he could make a further impression this year. Alas, he left without playing in the NRL again, and being left out in the cold despite the Knights misfiring in the early rounds felt a sure sign his time was up.
“I wouldn’t be frustrated if I didn’t feel I deserved a chance. I put everything into the pre-season I had, I trained really hard, my body is in the best shape it’s ever been,” says Pryce.
“Newcastle are struggling a bit but I speak to a lot of the boys every day because they were likely family to me. I didn’t have anyone else over there and they looked after me massively.
“They’re going tough with injuries. They’ve got a lot of pressure on them at the moment. I think if you look at the position I would have played, where Fletcher Sharpe is playing, he’s doing a fantastic job, he scored some freakish tries, so it’s not like I can sit here and say ‘I would have played better than him’ because he’s having great games.
“I won’t sit here and dwell on it and be annoyed at what didn’t happen. I’m just happy I went over there and met some great people that I can call friends for life.
“I got to experience something not many English players do. I’m proud of what I’ve done and ambitious to keep moving forward now in my career.”
That next step is also one that takes Pryce back in time, to when it was his father in the jersey he now wears.
The young boy was often to be found on Leon’s rugby travels but best remembers the late-career, two-year spell in Hull, being a regular in the training environment and famously posing with the Challenge Cup after the club’s 2016 win at Wembley.
Will remembers: “If I ever went down to Wembley it was always to watch my dad play. We had a good day out and met some rugby league legends. The same day I got a picture with Ellery Hanley, who was my dad’s favourite player ever. It was amazing.
“I remember the Hull team, Wattsy (Liam Watts) was playing in that game and now I’m playing with him, it’s crazy. I remember Marc Sneyd won the Lance Todd and he let me hold the trophy and walk round with it whilst he paraded the fans after the game. For a 14-year-old kid it’s memories that last forever – I’ll remember that until I die.”
Would Hull’s vintage crop back then have expected the boy in their midst to be a future star? “I don’t think they would, but I always gave the impression I wanted to.
“I’d kick goals with Sneydy every day and I was always in the full Hull training kit. I don’t know if they’d have had their eye on me then, I wasn’t that good a player at that age to be honest. It’s a good job I had a growth spurt later and started playing some decent rugby!”
Pryce has signed a three-and-a-half-year deal with the Black and Whites, making his debut in a Challenge Cup quarter-final loss to Hull KR only three days after arriving back in the UK.
Although he took the place of injured stand-off Cade Cust in that game, every appearance since has been at fullback.
“I’ve no preference to be honest. I’ve played both positions in my career so wherever John (Cartwright, coach) wants me,” he says of his best position.
“I’m enjoying playing fullback at the moment, getting my hands on the ball a bit more and being in different running opportunities which is probably more my game.”
A new squad number may be forthcoming in future years then, but the drive is there to emulate his dad in other ways by reaching the very top of the sport – “I want to be considered as one of the best players in the game, especially in England” – and lifting trophies, of which Leon won just the 19.
Despite a stutter in the weeks after Pryce’s arrival, Hull are a different proposition to the side that finished joint-bottom of Super League last season.
“When I spoke to John, Richie (Myler, chief executive) and a few of the boys, they all told me how ambitious a place it is,” says Pryce.
“Last year didn’t go so great for them and it probably wasn’t that ambitious, but they’ve had a big clear-out, got some new players in, and John and the coaching staff are doing a great job of bringing us in every day and enjoying it. I’ve enjoyed every day.
“Everyone who plays the sport should want to win silverware but we’re sure we can, we have it in us.”
Spoken with the confidence of his old man.
First published in Rugby League World magazine, Issue 509 (June 2025)