Will Pryce: Hull FC star welcomes Super League lifeline and brushes off Australia ‘failure’

Hull FC’s Will Pryce feels he is a better player now than he was before his spell in Australia, despite admitting some may see his move as a “failure”.

Pryce, 22, joined the Newcastle Knights from Huddersfield Giants in 2024 but was limited to just six games in the NRL before leaving on compassionate grounds earlier this year. A few days later, his move to Hull was confirmed, and he quickly made five Super League appearances before suffering a hamstring injury at the end of May.

“Everything about Australia, I definitely miss it. I miss it a lot,” Pryce told Sky Sports on The Bench podcast. “I think the lifestyle is great. I had some fantastic people around me. And I probably could have stayed and maybe hoped to get a few NRL games under my belt this year, and hoped if injuries went my way, I might have been playing.

“But when I sat and spoke to John (Cartwright, Hull head coach) and Richard (Myler, CEO), we just spoke about how invested they are in me to be a vital part of this team.

“I think anyone can say, especially at my age now, I don’t really want to be in and out of a team anymore. I want to try and play week in, week out at the professional level and prove that I can do it at that level.

“I obviously had an opportunity to stay in Newcastle. I had a couple of opportunities to maybe stay in Australia for a bit longer. But for me, it was about playing first-grade rugby, and Hull were keen on me getting here.”

Pryce is set to miss Hull’s next Super League game – which is live on Sky Sports+ against Huddersfield on Saturday from 3pm – but could return against Salford Red Devils next month. Whenever he next features, Pryce will be taking his lessons from Australia into it.

“I feel like my expectations were to probably play a bit more NRL games than what I did, but now looking back on it, did I work hard enough to play them games? No,” Pryce added.

“It wasn’t until I started to put the graft in mid-year and started to work a bit harder, get fitter, stronger, put better performances together in reserve grade there that I earned the chance to play NRL.

“I’m really proud of the way I turned it around and worked a bit harder and took myself out of the comfort zone a bit. There’s not many English lads that can say they’ve played in the NRL. Obviously some people can turn around and say it’s a failure, and I’ve come home and I’ve not managed to stay out there.

“But for me, I’ve learned so many life lessons. I’ve learned so many rugby lessons that I probably wouldn’t have learned in England.

“The coaching I had in Newcastle from them coaches over there in Australia, you don’t get that here. Young kids don’t get that here. So going there at such a young age has put me in good stead, I’d say.”

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