Former Warriors captain Steve Price is ready to harness his greatest skill – leadership – on Celebrity Treasure Island. Photo / TVNZ
Former Warriors captain Steve Price is ready to harness his greatest skill – leadership – on Celebrity Treasure Island. Photo / TVNZ
He’s a rugby league legend, doting dad, supermarket owner, New Zealand’s favourite Australian, and now Steve Price can add Celebrity Treasure Island castaway to his long list of titles.
Travelling to the South Island’s Te Waipounamu for the latest instalment of TVNZ’s hit reality show, the Australian admits he’s only had two weeks to get ready for the adventure. But after a life of saying yes and figuring it out later, Price wasn’t about to change now.
The 91-cap Warrior sat down with Herald Entertainment Editor Jenni Mortimer on the rocky shores of CTI to talk - in that iconic husky voice - life after league, what happened to his supermarket and why he had to leave New Zealand.
“It’ll be interesting whether people will see me having changed since I retired, or whether they didn’t really understand me before,” says Price, who admits he might not be the jovial character he was in his youth.
“’Cause as you get older, you probably get crankier,” laughs the 49-year-old.
The retired rugby league player now works health and safety in pipeline construction in Western Australia, currently doing “a 26 and nine swing”, meaning 26 days on, followed by nine days off.
“I did it because, not the promise, but the opportunity to get your study, get some experience and then get something better because you’ll be of value, whereas at the moment I’m useless,” he confesses of his new skills.
The career path, Price admits, is “totally new” to him after decades of league and a stint owning the Four Square in Waipu.
“It’s a new career, but I’ve enjoyed it, the people are great, FIFO (Fly-in fly-out), I’m okay with it” - but according to Price, the slog isn’t actually that much different to league.
“We’d be away for 20 days if you win it, or if you’re in the finals - I’m used to this.”
However, finding motivation after league has been a real challenge for the decorated sporting star.
“It’s been really hard, post footy, to find something that gives you the same drive, hunger, energy, passion,” he shares.
But feeling like he can’t quite find the right fit isn’t new for Price. In fact, starting this new career somewhat reflects how it felt for him starting league all those years ago.
“I went through it through my footy. I made the Aussie side and then I thought I had to be Darren Lockyer and I sound like Darren Lockyer, but I’ll never play like him. But then I got dropped from the Aussie side, dropped from the Queensland side, and almost got dropped from the Bulldogs team,” the forward says.
“Then I realised the reason why I got there was ‘cause of who I was and what I did. I was trying to change it to be this other person and it didn’t work. So it was a really good lesson for me to learn. But it was a hard lesson to learn because you don’t like to lose those types of things.
“I was proud to have been able to compete at that level because it was as me. And I was trying to be me and it was going good.” However, Price admits self-doubt always played a part.
“That was probably the biggest question mark I had in my life... ‘Am I that good?’”
After a career spanning 17 years, Steve Price retired at the conclusion of the 2010 NRL season. Photo / Getty Images
After a career spanning 17 years, debuting in 1994, the former Warriors captain retired at the conclusion of the 2010 NRL season. But Price stayed put in New Zealand, taking ownership of the Waipu Four Square in 2014 and owning and operating it until 2017.
The experience Price loved, living life at a slower pace with his family in a rural community, surrounded by nature.
“Every morning I’d go for just a quick dip at the cove, and it was winter and summer. It was crazy, but it was amazing. The Waipu Square was incredible, I loved it.”
However, he admits the idea of continuing up the supermarket chain was daunting and he has a whole host of fears of what his life might then look like.
“I was a bit worried. I was supposed to go to the next level to go to a New World. But then you get more staff and then you’re not as hands-on. And I really loved stocking the shelves, serving the customers, doing the orders, paying the staff.”
He also loved the frequent interaction with customers, though he admits some questioned if he had lost his footy fortune when they spotted him.
“Most people would go, ‘F*** what’s happened? You’re working at a Four Square, mate. You lost all your money?’ And I’d say, ‘Nah, I own the store, and it’s going good,’ you know, and I loved it. It was so cool.”
Price also noticed the toll supermarket ownership took on other owners, and he never wanted to see himself in the same position.
“A lot of the owners, been married a couple of times and, I mean, rich as anything, but lonely. And I thought, I don’t want to be that,” he reflected.
But getting into the supermarket game wasn’t easy, as Price recalls, sharing an interaction with a figure known as “the gatekeeper”.
“[League] probably made it harder for me to get in. Because of who I was. Like the lady, the gatekeeper they call her, she actually interviewed me and she just sort of said, ‘Five minutes ago I was up in my office, going to come down and tell you, you’re wasting your time.’
“Obviously I said what she liked, so then went to the next stage and psychometric tests and all sorts. But I loved it and I just don’t know if you get a Pak’nSave or a New World, whether I’d feel the same.”
He noted the lack of customer and community interaction as the top-level demands.
Steve Price at his 300th first-grade match between the Warriors and the Parramatta Eels in 2009. Photo / Getty Images
“The Waipu community was amazing - Scottish Heritage, Highland Games, everyone helps each other - I actually really miss it.
“When we do eventually get back over here for a holiday, that’s where we’ll go straight away. It’s a great place to be,” he says, recalling nights at the Waipu Pizza Barn with Ivan Cleary and pals.
So if he loved Waipu and running the small town local supermarket so much, why did he pack up shop, sell the family’s newly renovated Mt Albert villa and head back to Australia, taking on a new role with the Bulldogs management in 2019?
It was a move made for one reason alone – family.
“When we lived here [New Zealand] it really brought home to me the importance of family. When you live in New Zealand you get a real appreciation for the culture and the importance of life. Family is number one, nothing else matters.
“That’s the reason why we moved back - because we’re not getting younger so that means our parents aren’t. I would have hated it all being here and something happened. Otherwise we’d still be living here.”
He says losing people in life forces you to “live the moment”.
A close family unit, Steve’s wife, Jo, rings him every day when he’s away for work. And his three children, all of whom have followed in their dad’s sporting footsteps, 27-year-old Giant’s netballer Jamie-Lee, 25-year-old netballer Kasey and 22-year-old forward for the Queensland Cowboys, Riley, are all “busy with their lives”.
Price beams with pride as he recounts their sporting and life achievements. However, he’s the first to admit that growing up with a famous dad wasn’t always easy for his kids. In New Zealand, Price says he felt like he “didn’t really hide” and was able to be really involved.
“It’s so humbling here in this country,” says Price, recounting attending his kids’ sports games without fanfare, but in Australia, it wasn’t always the case.
“In Sydney, when the girls were really little, you’d go to the netball and they’d get upset because you couldn’t watch them,” he says, recalling how intense fans could get.
But if Price was nervous about people watching his every move, the shores of Celebrity Treasure Island might be a stark reality. But he says there was no way he could say no.
“When something like this comes up, you just say, ‘How often do you get this opportunity?’ I still feel as though I’m young enough. I’m definitely not physically in a condition that I would have liked to have been in. But you just go in and you just take it. I just want to really enjoy, I want to meet people.”
Price admits he hasn’t watched the show he’s agreed to go on, hasn’t done any research on it and doesn’t really understand how eliminations work. But he did make sure to tick off the most important piece of admin - getting the okay from his wife.
“It wasn’t a hard decision for me, I just had to ask the wife and she was all good with it. Had to ask where I work and they were all good with it,” he shares.
But patience, according to Price, is not one of his virtues; “I hate waiting. I just want to get into this game. Let’s go. Let’s start starving. Let’s start eating [the] rice and beans diet. Get diarrhoea or whatever. It’s inevitable. Not sleeping. Whatever. No pillows. All good.”
So how is the 6ft 4 star going to play the game? The former captain, who is battling it out to win the $100,000 prize for his charity, Child Cancer Foundation, admits he’s ready to harness his greatest skill – leadership.
This year's Celebrity Treasure Island cast includes influencer Matilda Green, comedian James Mustapic and Tāme Iti. Photo / TVNZ
“Being a part of a team that’s how I’ve been programmed. So I’m all about that and just making sure you contribute, but also getting others to play a role as well. So hopefully if I do that the guys don’t get the wrong impression that I’m trying to be Sgt. Bilko or anything,” he jokes.
“I’m a real body language person, so if I notice someone that’s struggling a bit, I’ll try and get them up. I’m not saying I’m going to be perfect either. I’ll just try and be absolutely straight up and honest,” says Price.
So with his impressive stature and sporting resumé, could Price have a suitably large target on his back, given physical players are often seen as the island’s biggest threats?
“Well, I’m not physically fit anymore, so that’s good,” he laughs.
“I’m doing a job where I sit behind a desk for 12 hours a day, so I haven’t had a chance to train. I had two weeks’ notice, so I’m not prepared for it at all - I actually don’t know how it works,” he laughs, confessing to that lack of preparation.
And what about brains - does the likeable legend also harness that island skillset? Well, he admits he will be flattered if his team vote him out because of his strategic plays, “because the position I played in footy doesn’t have a reputation of being smart, so if they [his team] said, ‘We’ll get rid of you because you’re quite intelligent.’ I’ll go, ‘Wow, that’s good.’ Change, the perception.”
So how does he want everyone to remember him for his time on the island? Well just like everything else in Price’s life, he hopes he’s seen as leaving things a little bit better than he found them.
“I hope I’m looked back on as being someone that brings us together. Gets the best out of us. That’s how I’d like to be looked at, but things could go pear-shaped,” he admits with a laugh.
Celebrity Treasure Island starts on Monday, September 18, TVNZ 2 and TVNZ+
Jenni Mortimer is the New Zealand Herald’s lifestyle and entertainment editor. Jenni started at the Herald in 2017 and previously worked as an education publication editor. She’s also the host of The Herald’s parenting podcast One Day You’ll Thank Me, mum to Knox and Celebrity Treasure Island aficionado.
