Ruben Wiki: I'll keep playing for ages

I don't play rugby league to break records and, while the latest one is something I take great pride in, these things often just seem to remind me how long I've played the game.

It's now 14 years and 264 first-grade games and I guess it's inevitable the subject of retirement tends to come up at times like this.

Retirement is not something I ever want to think about and, although I realise I can't keep playing forever, I hope that day doesn't come for a long, long time yet.

Although I can take it only game by game, I look after myself to produce every chance of playing for a few more years yet and I'm signed to play to the end of 2008.

I hope I can fulfil that contract and after that, who knows?

Maybe it's the young guys we have at the Warriors, and we do have a young team, but I still run around like a little kid and feel I can keep going in the game.

The thing with rugby league is you can never get comfortable and that's what drives me to keep learning and improving. Even at 33, I'm still learning and Ivan Cleary and John Ackland are still pushing me and showing me things to improve my game.

I guess the fact I have played so many positions keeps things fresh for me because I have always had to learn a new role.

Although I loved playing in the centres in the early stages of my career, I feel I've found my home in the forwards. I love the physical battles of the game and being in the thick of the action because up the middle is where a game is won and lost.

I vividly remember how I ended up at prop in 2000 after playing a couple of seasons in the second row. We were short of props at the Raiders because of injuries and suspensions and coach Mal Meninga asked us who would be prepared to play in the front row. I put my hand up.

My first game at prop was against Parramatta and I came up against Dean Pay and Jarrod McCracken. It was in the days of the unlimited interchange and thank God for that because I was stuffed after 10 minutes - it was totally different to anything I had experienced.

Last night it was great to equal Stephen Kearney's record for the number of first-grade games by a Kiwi and it's uncanny how it's worked out.

Cynics out there might think I deliberately got banned for one game recently so I could equal the milestone in Melbourne, where Steve is an assistant coach and where my mum lives.

Although my friends at the judiciary might not agree, maybe good things do happen to nice guys.