Price on life off the court

By Linda Pearce

There are two Jamie-Lee Prices. Off the court, the Origin Diamonds and GIANTS Netball defensive midcourt star insists she is the opposite of what fans see in full white-line-fever mode. 

“I’m very feisty on court,’’ Price said.  

“And people who see me as JLP the fierce competitor might not know me off the court. 

“I think part of that can be blamed on my dad Steve being an ex-league player and assumptions that I play a certain way. But I train hard, I’m strong bodied, and I compete.'' 

As for non-netball JLP, self-descriptions include empathetic, fun-loving, loyal, relaxed, casual, chilled.  

“People are quite surprised when they meet me in real life, cos they’re like ‘oh my gosh, you’re so nice’,” she said. 

No arguments here, and a getting-to-know-you-better-chat with Price also reveals a relatively recent enthusiasm for cooking (simple Mexican the go-to), reading (favourite author Colleen Hoover) and period dramas (Bridgerton, Little Women) for a keen concert-goer who loved Taylor Swift this year and expects Chris Stapleton to be a highlight of 2025. 

Having played professionally since first contracted in New Zealand at the age of 17, the 2023 World Cup winner is ready to find her non-netball passions and hobbies while seeing where life takes her. 

Which, however, comes just when footballer partner Harry Perryman has moved to Melbourne to join Collingwood as a free agent on a rich six-year deal. But more of that shortly. 

Told that this reporter once asked the great Roger Federer to describe his perfect day and repurposing the question to find out a bit more about Price, the answer is quite a simple one. (Roger, FYI, fancied beach time, a spa treatment and a romantic dinner with Mirka).  

“Probably doing some form of exercise just to start the day,'' says Price. "I love being around my family and friends, and I love eating, so if we go out for a nice brunch or lunch or something that always makes me feel good, and just socialising with my loved ones and my people.  

“My partner is quite outdoorsy so he’s probably brought this out in me as well, so we either go out on the boat and we go fishing, or we’re out on the farm or at the beach - we’re always doing something. I just love being outside. Anything to get you off your phone and being in the moment and being really present.’’ 

Back to when Jamie met Harry.  

Despite both being in the Giants' western Sydney environment, their paths first crossed after the 2019 AFL grand final, in Melbourne. Perryman was part of the 89-point loss to Richmond and Price among the crowd of 100,014 experiencing the MCG for the first time.  

“And then I went to the after-party and I met my boy,’’ she said. 

Admittedly, a few beverages had been consumed by the time the footballer and the netballer got chatting, before following each other on Instagram the next day, and then, well…  

“It took him, like, eight months, to ask me out,’’ Price said with a laugh.  

“I was getting a bit worried. I was like ‘am I wasting my time?’. But it was kind of nice, he’s a nice country boy, he’s so sweet, and (I’m) Harry’s first ever girlfriend, really. 

“Then obviously Covid happened, so he went back to the farm (in Wagga Wagga) and I went back to my family on the Sunshine Coast and I was like ‘right, it’s either going to fizzle out, or we’re going to talk every day’ and it was just nice to be able to connect that way. 

“It was definitely a slow burn, but that was probably good for me, because he’s just slow with everything! I’m very like ‘yep, let’s do it straight away’, without much thought.” 

The pair lived together before Perryman’s recent move south, and if Price "definitely" has her beau covered on quad strength, a hugely competitive streak is, unsurprisingly, shared. At tennis, for example, or ten-pin bowling, on one memorable early occasion.

“I don’t think he realised that I was probably going to be as good as what I was, and I annihilated him the first time,’’ Price recalled with relish. “Then he got so annoyed that we had to play again and obviously he smashed me and I wasn’t happy about that!’’ 

They also motivate each other, fitness-wise, including during the off-season. “It’s just having that understanding of what the athlete life is, when we have time off we really enjoy it and completely switch off, but then when it’s time to get back into it we work hard.''

Now an avowed AFL fan despite being the daughter of the aforementioned rugby league great Steve, Price signed a three-year deal to remain in orange until the end of 2026. 

She did so assuming that Perryman would also stay at GWS for the duration, as he had wished, only for different circumstances to unfold during what was a stressful year for both athletes. 

“I’m not going to sugar coat it - it’s going to be really hard living in different states,'' Price said. 

"But I guess that’s the risk you take when you date another athlete - the unknown of what’s going to happen and where everyone’s going to end up. So not ideal, but it’s not going to be a forever thing. You only get to play for so long, and you’ve got to make the most of those opportunities.’’ 

There are many successful precedents of course: Kim Ravaillion returning to the Queensland Firebirds while partner Adam Treloar stayed in Melbourne, and enduring long-distance duos Rudi Ellis-Tim English and Tippah Dwan-Josh Dunkley. 

“I’m definitely not worried about us as a couple,’’ she said. 

“We will sort it out, but it’s one of those things where you can’t turn down opportunity and you don’t want to look and go, ‘What if? Or I should have done this or I should have done that’.’’  

Inevitably, speculation surrounds whether Price may eventually play for a Victorian club.  

So? 

“If you'd have asked me last year I would have been ‘no, I’m staying at the Giants forever’, but I obviously thought that Harry was going to get looked after and we’d both be at Giants forever and obviously this isn’t the case, so things changed really quickly, which was disappointing.  

“But I’ll never say never because my perspective on life is ‘if you’re happy off the court then you’re happy on the court’ and obviously having a loved one, my partner, and being away from him, that sucks… so I don’t want to be away from him for too long.’’ 

Meanwhile, Price has moved with her hairdresser/friend, Zoe, into a Balmain share house owned by former Giant Nick Haynes, is continuing with her online Diploma of Business at NSW TAFE, and gradually starting to think more about life after netball. 

Not, at almost 29 and determined to play in the 2027 Netball World Cup in Sydney and finally get to a Commonwealth Games in 2026, that the end is likely to come any time soon for the owner of 53 Diamonds’ caps and 111 as a Giant. 

Price has shares in sports drink company Superboost with a gaggle of other elite athletes and also in sustainable underwear business StepOne, would love to renovate, style and flip a property and do more in the fashion space - including with the Diamonds. 

“I feel like there’s always so much pressure on ‘what are you going do after playing, blah, blah, blah’, and I’m honestly just dipping my toes in everything I can while I am playing, because I have no idea,” she said. 

“I also annoy Netball Australia lots about our Diamonds uniform,” she added, while having no issue with the design of the treasured yellow dress. 

“I want to get our uniform looking cool and professional, and it’s obviously going to be a bit of a process, but I’m willing to wait. 

“If you look in America and how popular the NBA and the NFL merch is to buy; it’s like ‘why can’t we do that in netball?’. I just want the Diamonds brand to be something that everyone wants to wear and everyone wants to be a part of, so that’s what I’m really passionate about and what I’m trying to push really hard.  

"I'm just really passionate about growing the sport in general, as well.'' 

As for a New Year’s Resolution, Price is dubbing her solo 2025 (in a Harry's-gone-to Melbourne sense) as a year of learning, while determined to continue doing what the Giants' back-to-back MVP and 2024 co-captain does best on the court.  

“Every opportunity that I can, I’ll be in Melbourne, which will be good,’’ she said. “But I’ll have lots of time to be by myself. So I guess to make the most of that.’’