Danika Priim (born 11 September 1984) is a retired

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

player from Leeds. She has previously played for Stanningley, and

Bradford Bulls The Bradford Bulls are a professional rugby league club in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, and compete in the Championship, the second tier of British rugby league. The club have won the League Championship six times, the Challenge Cup f ...

, before playing for her home town team,

Leeds Rhinos The Leeds Rhinos are a professional rugby league club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The club play their home games at Headingley Rugby Stadium, AMT Headingley Rugby Stadium and compete in the Super League, the top tier of British rugby lea ...

in the

Women's Super League The Women's Super League (WSL), also known as the Barclays Women's Super League for sponsorship reasons, and formerly the FA WSL, is a professional association football league and the highest level of women's football in England. Currently oper ...

between 2018 and 2021. Priim played at

prop forward A rugby league team consists of 13 players on the field, with 4 interchange players on the bench. Each of the 13 players is assigned a position, normally with a standardised number, which reflects their role in attack and defence, although playe ...

. Priim played at international level for from 2015 with her last international appearance being in 2018. Born in Leeds, Priim studied PE, and qualified as a teacher at

Leeds Beckett University Leeds Beckett University (LBU), formerly known as Leeds Metropolitan University (LMU) and before that as Leeds Polytechnic, is a public university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It has campuses in the Leeds city centre, city centre and Hea ...

. She played

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

for the university, but did not return to rugby league until 2015 when she joined Stanningley. While at Stanningley, Priim was selected to play for England, and made her debut in the 24–4 victory over on 17 June 2015. In 2017 Priim moved to

for the inaugural Women's Super League season, and was a member of the squad that won both the league title, and the

Challenge Cup The Rugby Football League Challenge Cup, commonly known just as the Challenge Cup is a Single-elimination tournament, knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, it is the world's old ...

, although she missed the Challenge Cup Final due to injury, missed the Super League Grand Final, to ensure she was fit to play for England in the

2017 Women's Rugby League World Cup The 2017 Women's Rugby League World Cup was the fifth staging of the Women's Rugby League World Cup and was held in Australia between 16 November and 2 December 2017. Pool and semi-final matches was held at Southern Cross Group Stadium in Sydn ...

. Selected by England for the 2017 World Cup, Priim had to take several weeks unpaid leave from her teaching post as England reached the semi-finals. The following year, Priim left Bradford to join the newly-formed Leeds Rhinos, where she was appointed vice-captain. In their first season, Leeds made both the Grand Final, and the Challenge Cup final, but an

anterior cruciate ligament The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligaments (the other being the posterior cruciate ligament) in the human knee. The two ligaments are called "cruciform" ligaments, as they are arranged in a crossed formation. In ...

injury meant that she missed both games. An appearance in a major final finally came, when she was part of the Rhinos successful retention of the Challenge Cup against Castleford in July 2019. The season ended with her second major final appearance, as Leeds lifted the Super League trophy, beating Castleford in the Grand Final. Priim played her last game for Leeds in the defeat to St Helens in the 2021 Grand Final, and announced her retirement from playing the following week. Since 2020, Priim has appeared as a commentator and summarizer on both Sky TV, and BBC TV and radio. In 2024, Prim was elected as vice president for the RFL, where she will work alongside

Adam Hills Adam Christopher Hills (born 10 July 1970) is an Australian comedian, radio and television presenter. In Australia, he hosted the music quiz show '' Spicks and Specks'' from 2005 to 2011, and again in 2021 onwards, and the talk show '' Adam Hi ...

(who will take over as president from

Sir Lindsay Hoyle Sir Lindsay Harvey Hoyle (born 10 June 1957) is a British politician who has served as Speaker of the House of Commons since 2019 and as Member of Parliament (MP) for Chorley since 1997. Before his election as speaker, he was a member of the ...

). In February 2025, Priim was charged with sexual assault, with a court hearing set for March. On 20 February, it was announced that she had voluntarily stood down as vice president of the RFL until further notice. At a preliminary hearing at

Leeds Crown Court Leeds Combined Court Centre is a Crown Court venue, which deals with criminal cases, and a County Court venue, which deals with civil cases, in Oxford Row, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is adjacent to Leeds Magistrates Courts. History Un ...

on 13 March 2025 Priim pleaded not guilty to the offence and was bailed until the trial date which has been set for 16 November 2026.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Priim, Danika 1984 births Living people Alumni of Leeds Beckett University Bradford Bulls Women players England women's national rugby league team players English female rugby league players Leeds Rhinos Women players English rugby league commentators Rugby league players from Leeds Rugby league props 21st-century English sportswomen