He's still 12 months away from his first NRL pre-season training session, but incoming Newcastle Knights recruit Will Pryce can't wait to get started in the Steel City.
The talented young half/fullback will join the Knights in 2024 after his time with Super League side Huddersfield comes to a close, and he says his NRL debut will be the culmination of a lifelong dream.
โSince I was young it's always been a dream of mine to go over to Australia,โ Pryce told the Trott the Egg Podcast.
โYou can see the competition over there is growing and there are 20,000 fans at games week-in, week-out.
โOrigin games are even getting bigger, (they're) getting 80,000 at Grand Finals. I watch most NRL games, it's something I enjoy watching.โ
While some club attendance averages may be a little short of Pryce's expectations, his desire to play in front of crowds will be well-served in Newcastle. The Steel City has long maintained it's place near the top of the league's average attendance, regardless of the team's on-field fortunes.
It's factors like that which made the Steel City an obvious choice for the 20-year-old Englishman, and why he opted for the Hunter when a number of other clubs and codes came calling.
He'll join the team for pre-season next year along with fellow recruit and countryman Kai Pearce-Paul.
โI remember after my first year in Super League, I couldn't have been luckier. I played every game in the second half of the season. I ended up playing 13 games on the trot and there was suddenly a bit of hype around me.
โThat's when Newcastle became interested in signing me. I was getting interest from the NRL in general โ I also had a couple of clubs in Super League interested as well as union clubs. I had a lot of attention.
โI came to the end of that first year and was looking for a new contract at Huddersfield. I was still on my academy contract. I wanted to be settled โ I had a few offers from other teams but I turned them down.
โI don't think the deal ever got sorted from both endsโฆ that's when Newcastle came.
โI met up with the recruitment manager Clint Zammit from Newcastle about the ambitions the club had, and they matched mine.โ
