Kaysa Pritchard

Kaysa Pritchard (born 5 May 1994) is a former Samoa international rugby league footballer who played as a hooker for the Parramatta Eels in the NRL.

Kaysa Pritchard
Personal information
Born (1994-05-05) 5 May 1994
Campbelltown, New South Wales, Australia
Height175 cm (5 ft 9 in)
Weight88 kg (13 st 12 lb)
Playing information
PositionHooker
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2013–18 Parramatta Eels 47 4 0 0 16
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2016–17 Samoa 3 0 0 0 0
As of 19 May 2019
Source: [1]

Background

Pritchard was born in Campbelltown, New South Wales, Australia. He is of Samoan and Pākehā (Anglo-Saxon) New Zealand descent.

He played his junior football for the Cabramatta Two Blues, and attended Hoxton Park High School before being signed by the Parramatta Eels.

Pritchard is the younger brother of retired Parramatta Eels player Frank Pritchard.[2]

Playing career

Early career

In 2012, Pritchard played for the Parramatta Eels' NYC team.[3]

Pritchard in 2013

2013

In Round 8, Pritchard made his NRL debut for the Eels against the North Queensland Cowboys. On 5 July, he re-signed with the Eels on a 2-year contract.[4]

2014

On 3 May, Pritchard played for the New South Wales Under-20s team against the Queensland Under-20s team.[5] On 8 September, he was named in the Samoa train-on squad for the 2014 Four Nations,[6] but didn't make the final 24-man squad.

2015

On 14 May 2015, it was revealed that Kaysa Pritchard let fellow Parramatta player Kenny Edwards take a urine sample for Pritchard on his behalf. Pritchard was temporarily stood down by the club.[7][8] On 11 July, Pritchard re-signed with the Eels on a 1-year contract.[9]

2016

On 26 February, Pritchard re-signed with the Eels on a 2-year contract.[10] On 7 May, he made his international debut for Samoa against Tonga in the 2016 Polynesian Cup.[11] Later in the year he represented Samoa in their historical test match against Fiji in Apia.

2017

Pritchard started the 2017 season at hooker for Parramatta in Round 1. He went on to play a further 15 games before suffering a season-ending knee injury against The St George Dragons.[12] After being ruled out for the season, Pritchard made a shock return to The Parramatta side in their elimination final loss to North Queensland.[13]

2018

On 29 April 2018, Pritchard was awarded the anzac medal for being voted best player on ground in Parramatta's 24-22 victory over The Wests Tigers.[14] In Round 10, Pritchard suffered a groin injury in the match against Canterbury and was ruled out for 3–4 weeks.[15] On 19 July, Pritchard scored a try in Parramatta's 14-8 victory over arch rivals Canterbury in which the media dubbed the match the "spoon bowl" as both sides were sitting last and second last on the table.[16][17] On 28 July, Pritchard was ruled out for the rest of the season after suffering a dislocated shoulder in Parramatta's 26-20 loss to South Sydney.[18] In total, Pritchard only managed to feature in 8 games for Parramatta in season 2018 as the club endured a horror year on and off the field claiming its 14th wooden spoon and Pritchard's second wooden spoon as a player since he joined The Eels in 2013.[19][20] On 30 October 2018, Pritchard signed a one year contract extension to stay at Parramatta until the end of the 2019 season.[21]

2019

In February, Pritchard was granted indefinite leave by Parramatta after the player declared that he was struggling to recover from an ongoing injury suffered from the 2018 season.[22]

On 14 June, Pritchard announced his retirement as a player.[23]

References
  1. "Kaysa Pritchard - Career Stats & Summary". Rugby League Project. Retrieved 12 March 2016.
  2. "Parramatta Eel Kaysa Pritchard just grateful to be playing first grade". Dailytelegraph.com.au. 12 July 2013. Retrieved 18 June 2015.
  3. https://web.archive.org/web/20140531104806/http://rleague.com/players/Kaysa-Pritchard_3625/Matches/. Archived from the original on 31 May 2014. Retrieved 16 June 2015. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  4. "Eels announce re-signing of youth | NRL". Zerotackle .com. 5 July 2013. Retrieved 18 June 2015.
  5. "NSW U20s ORIGIN SQUAD ANNOUNCED". Rugby League Week. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
  6. "Samoa train on squad announced | NRL". Zerotackle.com. 8 September 2014. Retrieved 18 June 2015.
  7. "NRL 2016: Kaysa Pritchard to repay Parramatta Eels after drug scandal". 16 March 2016.
  8. "Eels boss bewildered and disappointed over drug sample urine switch". 13 May 2015.
  9. "Eels Re-Sign Seven Players - Eels". Parraeels.com.au. 11 July 2015. Retrieved 13 July 2015.
  10. "Eels re-sign young forwards". Zero Tackle. 29 August 2015. Retrieved 26 February 2016.
  11. "Samoa too good for Tonga in fiery Pacific Test clash at Pirtek Stadium". Dailytelegraph.com.au. 7 May 2016. Retrieved 8 May 2016.
  12. "Kaysa Pritchard ruled out for the season".
  13. "Updated team lists: Eels v Cowboys". 16 September 2017.
  14. "Parramatta Eels hooker Kaysa Pritchard turns in starring performance against Wests Tigers". 29 April 2018.
  15. "NRL team lists: Your NRL club's round ten line-up in 2018".
  16. "Eels beat Bulldogs to leave NRL wooden spoon race open". 19 July 2018.
  17. "Fears 'Spoon Bowl' will attract lowest crowd for 20 years". 16 July 2018.
  18. "NRL casualty ward: Josh Mansour, Cameron Smith, Melbourne Storm injuries". 7 August 2018.
  19. "Custom Match List - Rugby League Project".
  20. "Parramatta Eels 2018 season review". 23 October 2018.
  21. "Parramatta Eels announce contract extensions for four players".
  22. "Pritchard granted indefinite leave". www.nrl.com. 26 February 2019.
  23. "Horrific low blow forces forgotten Eels hooker Kaysa Pritchard to retire". Fox Sports. 14 June 2019.
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