St George Illawarra enforcer Tariq Sims believes he has years of good football ahead of him, despite ongoing speculation about his playing future in Wollongong.
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Despite remaining under contract until the end of 2022, Dragons coach Anthony Griffin confirmed last September that Sims had been given permission to look elsewhere. It's understood the NSW State of Origin forward was keen to extend his deal until the end of 2023, but he was instead given the option to find another club.
Sims was in March linked to a potential move to the Melbourne Storm - even as soon as mid-season - who are set to have a depleted pack in 2023 with Jesse and Kenny Bromwich, and Felise Kaufisi joining NRL newbies the Dolphins. Rumours about Sims' future then grew stronger when he was left out of St George Illawarra's team for their season opener against the Warriors.
The veteran retuned to the starting side the following week and has retained his position over the past three rounds, however, the talk about his future in 2023 and beyond continues to bubble.
When asked about his future with the red v on Thursday, the 32-year-old played a straight bat.
"Anything is possible. You go out there and play as hard as you can for a team and when your time comes, your time comes. All I can control is how good I'm playing, what I'm doing for the boys and how I'm approaching training, and making sure we're going out there to win games," Sims said.
"I'm more than determined than ever to play great football. I'm nowhere near the end, I'm probably the fittest and strongest that I've been in my whole career. It's no secret that the start of my career was injury plagued, but there's been the longevity of what I've needed to do to stay in the game. I've taken my licks with suspension as well which has taught me to be able to adjust and last as long as I have in the NRL, that's only added a few more strings to my bow.
"I'm firing on all cylinders to be brutally honest."
The Dragons will aim to snap a four-game losing streak when they return to Wollongong to face the Knights on Sunday.
The hosts will be boosted by the return of Josh McGuire from suspension, while fellow forwards George Burgess and Jack Gosiewski were also named on an extended bench.
"Josh definitely adds that element of aggression in the middle, in parts of our game we've been lacking that. I'm excited to see him back out there," Sims said.
"The last couple of weeks have been tough, I'm not going to sugar coat it. I've always played with my heart on my sleeve but wins are hard to come by in the NRL - there's no easy teams. We've come up against some really good opposition and we just haven't been there for 80 minutes of the game. If you look back at our games, we've played 50 to 60 minutes of solid football, but the game goes for 80 minutes and if we're not playing until the final siren, we're letting ourselves down. No one's been as disappointed as we are.
"But we're really determined to turn it around and make amends for the start of our year, and that starts this weekend."
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Joshua Bartlett
A sporting fanatic who is keen to promote all codes in the Illawarra and abroad. Mercury's chief football reporter.
A sporting fanatic who is keen to promote all codes in the Illawarra and abroad. Mercury's chief football reporter.
