Kaysa Pritchard (born 5 May 1994) is a former

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands ( Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands ( Manono and Apolima); ...

international

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 11 ...

footballer who played as a for the

Parramatta Eels The Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta that competes in the National Rugby League. The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, and their ...

in the NRL.

Background

Pritchard was born in

Campbelltown, New South Wales Campbelltown is a suburb located on the outskirts of the metropolitan area of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is located in Greater Western Sydney south-west of the Sydney central business district by road. Campbelltown is the adminis ...

, Australia. He is of Samoan and

Pākehā Pākehā (or Pakeha; ; ) is a Māori term for New Zealanders primarily of European descent. Pākehā is not a legal concept and has no definition under New Zealand law. The term can apply to fair-skinned persons, or to any non- Māori New Z ...

(Anglo-Saxon) New Zealand descent. He played his junior football for the

Cabramatta Two Blues Cabramatta Two Blues, colloquially known as ''Cabra'', is an Australian rugby league football club that was originally formed in 1919 and then later completely formed as the Two Blues in 1939. They have always based from the Parramatta Junior Le ...

, and attended Hoxton Park High School before being signed by the

. Pritchard is the younger brother of retired

player

Frank Pritchard Frank Semu Pritchard (born 3 November 1983), also known by the nicknames "Cranky" and "Frank the Tank", is a former professional rugby league footballer who represented New Zealand and Samoa at international level. A , he played in the Nationa ...

Playing career

Early career

In 2012, Pritchard played for the Parramatta Eels'

NYC New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

team.

2013

In Round 8, Pritchard made his NRL debut for the Eels against the

North Queensland Cowboys The North Queensland Cowboys is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Townsville, the largest town in North Queensland. They compete in Australia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL). Sinc ...

. On 5 July, he re-signed with the Eels on a 2-year contract.

2014

On 3 May, Pritchard played for the

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Under-20s team against the

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

Under-20s team. On 8 September, he was named in the

train-on squad for the 2014 Four Nations, 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 Kenneth Michael Edwards (February 10, 1946 – August 18, 2010) was an American singer, songwriter, bassist, guitarist, mandolinist, and session musician. He was a founding member of the Stone Poneys and Bryndle and a long-time collaborator wi ...

take a urine sample for Pritchard on his behalf. Pritchard was temporarily stood down by the club. On 11 July, Pritchard re-signed with the Eels on a 1-year contract.

2016

On 26 February, Pritchard re-signed with the Eels on a 2-year contract. On 7 May, he made his international debut for

against

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

in the 2016 Polynesian Cup. Later in the year he represented Samoa in their historical

test match Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (association football) ...

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 The St. George Dragons is an Australian rugby league football club from St George District in Sydney, New South Wales that played in the top level New South Wales competition and Australian Rugby League competitions from the 1921 until th ...

. After being ruled out for the season, Pritchard made a shock return to The Parramatta side in their elimination final loss to North Queensland.

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 The Wests Tigers are an Australian professional rugby league football team, based in the Inner West and South West Sydney. They have competed in the National Rugby League since being formed at the end of the 1999 NRL season as a joint-venture ...

. In Round 10, Pritchard suffered a groin injury in the match against Canterbury and was ruled out for 3–4 weeks. 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. 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. 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. On 30 October 2018, Pritchard signed a one year contract extension to stay at Parramatta until the end of the 2019 season.

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

References

External links

Parramatta Eels profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pritchard, Kaysa 1994 births Living people Australian rugby league players Australian people of New Zealand descent Australian sportspeople of Samoan descent Cabramatta Two Blues players Parramatta Eels players Rugby league hookers Rugby league players from Sydney Samoa national rugby league team players Samoan rugby league players Wentworthville Magpies players