MATTHEW Johns has identified a possible NRL lifeline for Robbie Farah in the wake of reports the veteran hooker was being shopped around by the Rabbitohs.

Fairfax Media is reporting the No.9 is for sale and free to find a new home, claiming “several clubs” have been “approached about the prospect of taking Farah for next season”.

Asked on Triple M’s The Grill Team if Farah would find a third home in the NRL following a one-year stint at the Rabbitohs, Johns said the Knights would be a possibility “at the right price”.

However, that move would likely require South Sydney to tip in a sizeable chunk of Farah’s salary for 2018, a scenario they’d be desperate to avoid given the lingering rumour that they are attempting to clear space so they can make a play at Cooper Cronk.

Round 20

“There’s been a little bit of talk in rugby league circles of Cooper Cronk going to South Sydney,” Johns said.

“If that is the case they need to clear salary cap.

“Obviously they’re saying, ‘we can’t carry Robbie again, the way we have this year’.”

Farah is understood to be on a salary of $950,000 this season, although the Rabbitohs are only paying about “200,000” of that, according to Johns.

That changes in 2018, with Wests Tigers no longer required to pay the majority of their former skipper’s salary, which is why Souths are trying to move him.

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Robbie Farah is still playing a role at the Rabbitohs. Source: News Corp Australia

It is not known what salary Farah is signed on for at the Rabbitohs next season but Johns made it clear it would have to be substantially less for the Knights to show any interest.

“At the right price. I’d say he’d be able to do a job at a certain club,” Johns said.

“Young Danny Levi’s a terrific young player at Newcastle, one of their better players, but who’s not to say he won’t go up there and school him for 12 months?

“But it’s at the right price. If it’s anything near the dollars we’ve just been talking about, it’s out of range.”

Other than the Knights only the Wests Tigers, Dragons, the Warriors and perhaps the Eels and Sharks have room to move in next season’s salary cap, now that it looks to be set at $9.4 million.

It’s unlikely that any of those clubs would take Farah at anything but minimum wage.

Which is why Johns suggested the 33-year-old would finish his career in the Super League.

“There’s only a certain amount of clubs who aren’t trying to shed dollars off their salary cap,” Johns said.

“I would think one of the big English clubs will come in like Warrington or Wigan. One of those clubs would come in, for sure.”

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