HE will be 35 in January, and being a rugged hooker over 16 seasons his body has copped a battering.

But last week Robbie Farah, along with his old mate Benji Marshall, made the decision to play on in 2019.

Appearing on Fox Sports’ League Life on Wednesday evening, the Wests Tigers rake revealed just how much he wrestled with the call, and why he eventually postponed his retirement.

“The Tigers couldn’t guarantee me a contract for next year and I was quite happy with that,” he began.

“I was happy to go back and just enjoy my footy again because it’d been a while since I’d done that.

“So, for me, the focus on going back [to the Tigers] was just to enjoy my footy and focus on the last nine weeks of the season.

“And then they showed interest in keeping me there next year, which kind of was a bit of a predicament for me because I had my mind made up to retire this year to be honest.

“It took a while to come to a decision. I changed my mind numerous times. There would be mornings I’d wake up and I thought to myself, ‘I am 35 next year, why do I want to keep playing?’ And then there were other mornings I’d wake up and I felt like I could keep playing.”

Eventually, that latter feeling won out.

“As I said it was a tough couple of years previously and I wasn’t really enjoying my footy, but now being back there I was loving my footy again,” he continued.

“I felt like I was still playing well and the fact that they really wanted me to stay and I felt wanted, I guess I went against the wishes of all my family and friends and decided to go for another year.”

The former Kangaroos and NSW Blues representative also saw an opportunity to help guide the Tigers’ highly-rated youngster Jacob Liddle.

“Then obviously the club see me as a bit of a mentor to Jacob Liddle coming through as well. “So the club’s got a lot of time for Jacob and he was coming off the back of two shoulder reconstructions this year and he probably struggled with that a bit.

“But with a full preseason under his belt next year, hopefully with myself there trying to teach him a few things, he’ll really make the step up to being an NRL first-grader.”

Farah has had issues with coaches in the past, none more glaring than Jason Taylor who pushed him out of Concord, and as such Farah called Ivan Cleary to get his guarantee that he’d be around next year.

“I rang [Cleary] because obviously he was key to all my negotiations and he really wanted me to stay,” he revealed.

“So after everything happened and I guess my negotiations were getting further down the track, I rang him and said, ‘Mate, are you staying, because I don’t want to play under another coach?’

“He assured me he was going to be there, and that’s the only gauge I can get through my conversations with him. He’s planning for next year and we all hope he stays.”