Huddersfield Giants’ Will Pryce opens up on positional switch and which player was ‘untouchable’ in 2021

Will Pryce took everyone – including himself – by surprise midway through the 2021 Super League season.

Thanks to injuries to halfbacks Aidan Sezer and Lee Gaskell, Pryce found himself being handed his debut by head coach Ian Watson.

And Pryce has never looked back since.

With 13 appearances under his belt in 2021, the rangy playmaker made his name known with some elusive and talented performances in the halves.

But, Pryce will be playing at fullback in 2022 – a position he knowns but not too well.

“I only played briefly at fullback as a junior,” Pryce said.

“I came through the scholarship and was I signed as a halfback and played most of my amateur games as halfback until I was 17.

“I didn’t play much fullback at all, three or four games at scholarship there, but in 2021, Watto (Ian Watson) asked if I could play in the halves for my first team debut and I’m not going to turn that down.

“He put me in bits here and there at Super League level to see if I can handle it and the pre-season I’ve had with getting the repetitions in and teaching myself the role, it’s given me good stead for this year and the first game.”

For Pryce, his heroes range from his own dad Leon and uncle Karl – both of whom played rugby league for a considerable amount of years – to one Sam Tomkins.

“My dad is a big hero – I watched every game he has played.

“We are a close family, so I’m close with my uncle Karl and I watched every game of his too – I idolised those two.

“As I started to become my own player at 10, players like Sam Tomkins were winning Man of Steel.

“I’ve watched a lot of Sam Tomkins over the years as he’s someone I idolised growing up too.

“Some of the stuff he did last year, he was untouchable.”