Top household title Diamonds star stole from her NRL legend father
Exclusive: Every elite athlete has ambitions deep inside to be considered the best in the world, but two Diamonds stars are battling just to be considered the best in their family.
Jamie-Lee Price and Jessie Grenvold are writing their own history in a sport their star fathers, Bulldogs great Steve Price and AFL premiership winner David Grenvold, never touched, representing the Australian Diamonds.
The Price family pictured. Instagram/@jamielee_price
It hasn’t been the most successful year for the Diamonds, who settled for bronze at the Commonwealth Games before losing the Constellation Cup to the Silver Ferns.
But Price and Grenvold have both taken major lessons from their own individual success this year – and also accepted some advice from their ex-athlete fathers.
Growing up, Price would become frustrated by those who’d refer to her as “Steve Price’s daughter” or believed her last name gave her better opportunities in the sporting word as she looked to pursue her dream of being a professional athlete.
Price’s uncle, Brent Tate, was also an NRL premiership winner with the Broncos.
Price now accepts that comparisons to the pair are a blessing, but it took some time for her to finally have a sporting identity away from her father’s.
“I love my dad and I love what he did, I am very proud of him, but there is only so much (you can take) being recognised (for his success),” she told nine.com.au.
“It took a long time to (get over it). After a couple of years playing professionally and Dad retired that kind of died down. Then I was just Jamie-Lee Price.
“(We) never really spoke about (the comparisons) unless I whinged about it.
“It has been really fun creating my own path and career. I’ve really enjoyed it. He is now Jamie-Lee Price’s dad, which he embraces so much, he loves it.”
Grenvold, 23, didn’t have quite the same experience as Price with her father David, as she was born seven years after he called time on his AFL career.
While she was not there to see it, Grenvold knows how successful her father was with a Sherrin in hand, winning the flag in 1996 with the Essendon Bombers.
Jessie Grenvold (C) is seen standing alongside her father Dave. Instagram/@jessiegrenvold
“He really instilled in us (Grenvold and her four sisters) how important team sport was,” the recent Diamonds debutant told nine.com.au.
“I had to laugh with the girls because at the end of every game I get a rundown of what he thought. He always signs off with ‘enjoy the moment, now back to the office’. He keeps me very grounded.”
Grenvold says she is “pretty hopeless with the footy in hand” but she would never rule out the possibility of joining the AFLW to follow in her father’s footsteps.
Price, on the other hand, says if she was “a bit younger” the idea of taking up rugby league like her father may be a more realistic dream or opportunity.
She also noted, however, that had that been the case, the journey to having a sporting identity separate to her father’s may have been harder to forge.
Then again, the 30-year-old’s family believes her career achievements have already surpassed her father Steve, uncle Brent, brother Riley, who plays in the Warriors’ NSW Cup team, and also her fiancée Harry Perryman, who plays for Collingwood.
Price has won World Cup gold and silver, Commonwealth Games bronze and recorded 71 caps with the national team. She was also named the Liz Ellis Diamond, the highest individual award in Australian netball, in 2025.
“Dad always jokes about how I’ve beat all of them combined, but I wouldn’t say it is competition, I’d say it is just a bit of fun,” she replied laughing when asked who has bragging rights at the family dinner table.
“My partner plays AFL and obviously, we are a rugby league family, so he cops a lot of shit being an AFL player.
“I hope Harry does win a flag one day because ... winning is so much fun and I want him to experience that.”
Jamie-Lee poses with her fiancee and Collingwood star Harry Perryman. Instagram/@jamielee_price
Grenvold is still fighting to get the upper hand on her father at such a young age.
“The first thing I thought of when I made the team was how I can’t wait to tell Dad because I ain’t ever seen him with an All-Australian,” she laughed.
“But I haven’t won the flag yet. Hopefully, when the Mavs win a premiership, I’ll come out on top in the family battle.”
Price now understands what Steve meant when he said her career will “go in the blink of an eye”, but she still has plenty she wants to achieve before following him into retirement.
“Now I believe everything he says but when I was younger, I was like ‘whatever’,” she said, laughing.
Price and Grenvold will be looking to keep their spot in the Diamonds squad for next year’s World Cup in Sydney, but they will have to rely on their 2027 Suncorp Super Netball form to ensure they impress coach Stacey Marinkovich. There are no Test matches on the calendar for the national team before the showpiece tournament.
The Suncorp Super Netball season will begin on Saturday, April 10 in 2027.
