{"id":191223,"date":"2025-10-10T20:05:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-10T20:05:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/191223\/"},"modified":"2025-10-10T20:05:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T20:05:11","slug":"former-st-helens-and-hull-fc-star-leon-pryce-makes-coaching-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/191223\/","title":{"rendered":"Former St Helens and Hull FC star Leon Pryce makes coaching return"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Former St Helens, Hull FC and Bradford Bulls talent Leon Pryce has made his return to rugby league coaching after landing a new role.<\/p>\n

Pryce, who had a stint as head coach of Workington Town in 2018 and 2019, last worked as an assistant coach at Featherstone Rovers under Sean Long in the 2023 season.<\/p>\n

Appointed at the start of the year, Pryce had left by mid-June as the club transitioned to a more full-time training schedule<\/a> in their bid to earn promotion to Super League, which ultimately didn\u2019t come.<\/p>\n

Now though, Pryce is back in the coaching game and he\u2019s been confirmed as the new head coach of York Valkyrie in an eye-catching move that now means two of the sport\u2019s top four teams will be coached by former Great Britain stars with treble-winning Wigan Warriors are coached by Denis Betts.<\/p>\n

Pryce\u2019s appointment comes hours after confirmation that director of rugby Lindsay Anfield had stepped down<\/a> after five years in charge.<\/p>\n

Leon Pryce appointed head coach of York Valkyrie<\/p>\n

The club had plenty of success under Anfield, finishing top of Super League in 2022 and 2023 as well as the Grand Finals in 2023 and 2024, becoming the first side to successfully defend their crown.<\/p>\n

Despite falling short in the semi-finals of both the Challenge Cup and Super League this year, there\u2019s still plenty of talent in the group that Leon Pryce will be tasked with lifting back to silverware.<\/p>\n

A statement from the Valkyrie confirmed the appointment, announcing: \u201cFormer Great Britain international, Leon Pryce has been appointed as the new head coach of York Valkyrie!<\/p>\n

\u201cHe takes over from Director of Rugby, Lindsay Anfield who has stepped down after five seasons in charge.\u201d<\/p>\n

A four-time Super League Grand Final winner, Pryce started and ended his career with Bradford before spells at St Helens, Catalans and Hull FC, whilst also playing internationally for England and Great Britain a total of 26 times.<\/p>\n

Chairman Clint Goodchild sang his praises, stating: \u201cLeon is one of the most respected figures in rugby league, with an incredible career as both a player and a coach. His passion for developing players and his deep understanding of the game will bring tremendous energy to our Club.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Valkyrie have set new standards for women\u2019s rugby league in recent years, and Leon\u2019s appointment marks the next exciting chapter in that journey.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis leadership, and commitment to excellence align with what we\u2019re building here in York.\u201d<\/p>\n

It seems that the Valkyrie, whose season ended at the hands of St Helens in September, have already met Pryce as Goodchild revealed: \u201cLeon has already made a fantastic impression on the playing group with his energy, and genuine respect for what the Valkyrie have achieved.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe brings a wealth of experience, a winning mentality, and a real sense of purpose to the role.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t wait to see the impact he\u2019ll have on the group as we continue to grow and chase success.\u201d<\/p>\n

Serious About Rugby League has launched a brand new podcast which can be watched in full on our\u00a0YouTube channel here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former St Helens, Hull FC and Bradford Bulls talent Leon Pryce has made his return to rugby league…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":191224,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-191223","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191223"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191223\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/191224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}