Ray Price began his career playing rugby union for Junior Club
Dundas Valley, played senior rugby union for the
Parramatta Two Blues,
New South Wales Waratahs and represented the
Wallabies in seven Tests, as flanker/breakaway, between 1974 and 1975, scoring four tries. One of these was against the New Zealand All Blacks, when, following a wayward penalty kick, Price wrested the ball from an in-goal defender, and scored. During the 1975 England rugby tour of Australia, Price was so intimidating off the back of the lineout, that English flyhalf
Alan Old stood more than from the scrumhalf. After this, Price moved to play rugby league for the
Parramatta Eels and was an instant sensation with his courage and high work rate. Although Parramatta lost the grand final that year, Price played consistently well throughout, and he only improved in the following three seasons, maintaining his form even in the fiery and successful assault of the
St. George pack in the 1977 Grand Final Replay (which Parramatta lost 0–22). Despite being controversially sent off in the 1978 minor semi-final, it was no surprise when Price was chosen to go on the
1978 Kangaroo tour. In July of that year his international rugby league début in the 2nd Test against
New Zealand in
Brisbane saw him become Australia's 36th dual code rugby international following
Geoff Richardson and preceding
Michael O'Connor. 1979 proved to be Price's finest year, for he won the
Rothmans Medal and the
Rugby League Week Player of the Year awards and selected to play at lock forward for Australia in all three test matches of the
1979 Great Britain Lions tour. He'd become established as the premier in Australia, a place he was to hold until the mid 1980s. Although his form at club level never reached quite the same standard of his first four seasons, his high work rate and chasing of
Peter Sterling's kicks made Price an integral part of Parramatta's hat-trick of premierships in 1981-1982-1983. Though he had been superseded by both
Wayne Pearce of the
Balmain Tigers (who had been moved into the second row in test and NSW teams since 1982/83) and
Paul Vautin of Manly-Warringah as Australia's premier , Price was still at his best in 1985, winning the
Dally M Lock of the Year for the fourth successive year and the Rugby League Week
Player of the Year award for the second time. That same year, Price became the first rugby league player to win the
Order of Australia Medal (OAM). With Parramatta winning their second premiership in succession, Price was an automatic selection for the
1982 Kangaroo Tour. Coached by
Frank Stanton, the 1982 Kangaroos went through their tour of
Great Britain and
France undefeated, becoming the first Kangaroo touring side to achieve the feat. As a result, the 1982 Kangaroos became known as
The Invincibles. Price played in the first two
Ashes tests against
Great Britain and was named Man of the Match in the Kangaroos 27–4 win in the second test at
Wigan's
Central Park ground. A knee injury would keep him out of the final test against the Lions at
Headingley in
Leeds as well as the two test series against
France. He also played in the pre-tour test against
Papua New Guinea in
Port Moresby. Australia won its first ever test against the Kumuls 38–4. Following the enforced retirement of incumbent NSW and Australian captain
Max Krilich due to a persistent neck injury in 1983, Ray Price was given the captaincy of NSW for the
1984 State of Origin series. Although
Queensland won the series 2–1, there was a strong public push, especially within the Sydney media and from the
NSWRL, for Price to be named as Australian captain for the upcoming Ashes series against
Great Britain. However, with a view to the future, the
Australian Rugby League named Queensland captain (and vice-captain of the 1982 Kangaroos)
Wally Lewis as the new test captain. Price retired from representative football following the final test of the 1984 Ashes series, played in front of 18,756 at the
Sydney Cricket Ground. Australia won the match 20–7 and the series 3–0. Following the game, Price gave his No. 13 (Lock-forward) jumper to Pearce in a symbol of passing the torch. 1986 was planned to be (and was) his last season with the Eels and he celebrated with an unprecedented fifth straight win of the Dally M
Lock of the Year and a premiership win in the grand final. After moving into the media with 2UE for two years, Price made a comeback at age thirty-six with English club
Wakefield Trinity. He stayed for one season (1989–90) and played 25 games, scoring 6 tries. However, after one season, he sought and obtained election to the Parramatta board, but his comments about the club's decline in the early 1990s were widely criticised and he lost his place in 1994. ==Post football==