Will Pryce ready to switch roles to build on debut season – after injury woe
WILL Pryce insists he will be more than right as he looks to build on a stellar debut season, in a new ‘money’ position.
And he admits he has hardly had a break after what seemed an innocuous injury turned out to be a ruptured ankle ligament – but he feels more ready than ever.
The Huddersfield starlet – son of Super League legend Leon – established himself as one of the most exciting half-backs in the game last season.
However, he will be going back, literally, as he will line up at full back in 2022 – a challenge he is more than up for.
Pryce, 18, said: “I’m more likely to be at full back, I’ve been training there and that’s where I see myself next year.
“There’s some players of great calibre in that position but you want that competition and to compare yourself, seeing what the best are about.
“Playing full back is a much different way of thinking. In a physical sense, you do much more defending at half-back but at full back you organise the team and have to communicate.
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“However, I’d always wanted to play there. Full back’s the money position if you look at those in Super League and the NRL.
“And at Huddersfield, I have Olly Ashall-Bott and Ash Golding, who have plenty of experience and are helping me massively. They’re doing everything they can to improve me as a player.”
Pryce’s impact went further than dazzling in Super League. On his debut for England Knights against Jamaica, he scored a classy try before departing with what seemed like a rolled ankle.
It did not take long, though, to find it was more serious. However, he now feels more ready to compete than ever.
Pryce added: “Initially I didn’t think it was anything major. A couple of days later, scans found I’d done a grade three rupture of a ligament in my ankle. I’d basically snapped that in half.
“It’s not a major ligament, some players may have done it and never got it fixed, but it took a while to repair. I had three or four weeks of it not reattaching or it reattaching then coming back off.
“I ended up getting an injection to stabilise it and it’s really sorted it out. It’s back to where it was and I’m feeling a lot better.
“But I didn’t have an off season. We went into Knights camp two weeks after the season finished, that was the only break I got.
“Once I’d done my injury, I was straight back in the gym on my rehab getting my ankle sorted – but the work I’ve put in has put me in a much better physical place.”
