Cameron Smith has ruled out defecting to a rival club as the Melbourne skipper remains unsigned and undecided about his NRL playing future.
While it seems unfathomable, Smith may have played his last game of rugby league following the Storm's grand final defeat by a ruthless Sydney Roosters on Sunday.
Smith has yet to come to an agreement with the club, despite stating his desire to play on.
The 35-year-old is locked in negotiations with the Storm to extend his career into an 18th season which would put him on track to become the first player to reach the 400-game milestone as well as break Hazem El Masri's all-time pointscoring record.
Asked if the stalemate could force him to another club, Smith said: "That's a really tough question.
"I haven't thought about that to be honest.
"Two things that really have crossed my mind, and I haven't thought about it in depth at all, is either I'll play in Melbourne or I'll finish."
With Cooper Cronk inspiring the Roosters to their premiership win and Billy Slater hanging up his boots, Smith would be the only remaining member of the "big three" in the Victorian capital next year.
Should he play on, he will be faced with a fresh challenge - keeping the club in premiership contention as they grapple with generational change.
Asked what he had left to achieve in the game, he said he wanted the side to be there on the last day of the season again in 2019.
"Come back here next year and win - that's really all that's been every year I've turned up," Smith said.
"Even before the pre-season I'll start thinking about the following year and think about what I want to achieve as a footballer, as a captain of the club, and what I want the team to achieve as well.
"It's always about playing well and being here on grand final night trying to win it."
Storm coach Craig Bellamy said he wanted his skipper to play on but was not holding the club's purse strings.
"It'd be up to the hierarchy to sort that out," Bellamy said.
"I want him to be at our club. I reckon there's a fair chance he could end up playing with his son.
"I've never seen a dip in Cameron's form, he's quite remarkable. There's no secret, hopefully he's going to be the first guy to play 400 games in our code."
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