KEY POINTS:
If Steve Price had stood in the election he would have bolted into any seat he chose and would be a good call for a future Prime Minister, such is his standing here.
Price is the quintessential nice guy, and if you didn't know that then read his book and believe it.
Too many sports books are a rant about mates, avoid the major incidents of controversy or brush over them and offer nothing in terms of enlightenment about their life outside sport, or life in general.
Price's book is the opposite, covering all aspects of his life as well as his good and bad times in league - the sexual assault allegation against other Bulldogs team members following a pre-season game in Newcastle, the salary cap scandal there and the one he walked into at the Warriors, the highs of winning his first grand final and the lows of sitting out 2004 when the Bulldogs won and he watched with a busted knee.
The former coach of the Broncos and Australia, and current Queensland coach, Wayne Bennett, tells in the opening how he went to watch a young Steve Price play for Toowoomba and ended up buying the opposition prop Shane Webcke instead.
Price proved his worth to him in State of Origin games, Bennett said. He was loyal, reliable and a wonderful leader. Never has he seen Price drunk. "He doesn't like to let you down."
When the salary cap rort was exposed and details of player wages laid out, Bennett said his reaction was "My God, they're taking him for granted." When Price some time later rang and asked for his advice on whether or not to accept a deal with the Warriors, Bennett said he told the prop to do it. "He had been scarred too many times."
Price tells why he made the decision to shift clubs after debuting for the Dogs and rising to captain - a move that rocked the NRL. He decided to write the book because people still ask him why he did it.
He talks of his parents' split when he was six, of scoring the first try in the 1995 grand final when the Bulldogs won 17-4 over Manly. Price was earning A$24,000 working for the Westpac Bank and A$30,000 for playing league. When Super League came along he shifted up to A$90,000.
Terry Lamb was an inspiration from within the game, Matthew Mitric one from outside it. Mitric was a child with a cancerous brain tumour who maintained a friendship with Price as he underwent repeat bouts of surgery, before dying two years after the pair met. The Warriors captain tells how Mitric's courageous battle inspires him in life and on the field and how he enjoys doing what he can to continue helping young cancer sufferers.
He reveals a spiritual side, brushes with messages from the deceased and tells of preparing for each game by reciting the names of loved ones who have died and then thanking God for his own good fortune.
State of Origin is the pinnacle in terms of playing against the best, but there is no higher honour than playing for Australia, Price says.
Next year "may well be my last season ... It's no certainty ... Never say never". The big prop is studying business and wants to work as chief executive of an NRL club or the NRL.
If that fails, run for mayor of Auckland Steve - you'd be a shoo-in.
Steve Price - Be Your Best by Ben Blaschke
Published by Hachette Livre NZ Ltd. $39.99
On sale nationwide from tomorrow.
