Will Pryce’s brutally honest mentality admission as World Cup hopes shared

Will Pryce heads into the new Super League season wanting to change people’s perception of him as a player.

The Hull FC ace is preparing for a big season having made his return to the UK last year, looking to benefit from the experiences that have seen him learn the hard way.

The 23-year-old made the move to Australia in 2024, but returned to Super League after just five appearances in the NRL.

But that experience, Pryce believes, will stand him in good stead for the remainder of his career, and he’s ready to put it to good use this year.

In an honest assessment of his time down under, Pryce told Love Rugby League: “I feel if I had the same mentality and lifestyle that I do now when I went to the NRL I’d have had a much different outcome.

“Newcastle is a hard-working city and when I went there, I probably didn’t value hard work. As a player, I was more bothered about scoring tries and looking good. If you asked me to do an effort area play, I wouldn’t be there to do it or be bothered to do it.

“But I had to go out there and learn those lessons, and you only do that by making mistakes. The way I view my recovery, eating, sleeping, looking after your body and mind, that’s improved by being over there.”

Pryce has developed a reputation for producing highlight reel moments and pieces of individual brilliance. But that’s no longer enough to satisfy his own demands. He wants to add substance beyond what people see at the surface level.

“That’s how I’m viewed as a player but I want to change that by how I’ll play,” he said.

“I don’t want to be Will Pryce who scores tries but misses every tackle, I want to be the player that team-mates turn around and say they want to play with. That’s where my mentality has probably changed, I want to go that extra step and work a little bit harder.

“My defence has got to improve. Playing fullback, it’s one-on-one tackles out of the back. I’m working to improve and that is a massive focus for me.”

If that comes to fruition, Pryce will be a more complete player. With that, the idea of becoming an England player becomes more viable.

“I think every player has one eye on the World Cup at the end of the year,” Pryce said.

“You’ve got to earn that position and I’ll do my best to do it. You’ve got AJ Brimson, who is a world class player doing it week in, week out in Australia. You can never look past that. And I think this year for Jack (Welsby) will be a great year. Normally, if a player gets some stick or has a tough year, they come back with a bang and Jack is a great player in a strong Saints team. He will be a force to be reckoned with. Healthy competition builds people up.”