BRENDON Rawlins has spoken of his pride at being awarded a testimonial by the RFL as he revealed plans to continue playing for another three or four years.

Joining Cougars as one of Barry Eaton’s first signings from Balmain Tigers in January 2007, the Australian forward has proved an outstanding servant to the club.

To date, the fans favourites has made 221 appearances for the club, scoring 53 tries, and is now gearing up for his 11th season at Cougar Park.

Having settled down and started a family since moving to Keighley, Rawlins has no immediate plans to move back home and is happy to continue playing for the foreseeable future.

Hailing from Townsville in Queensland, Rawlins said: “Ten years is a long time in anyone's book and it's great to have that recognised with the testimonial.

“There have been a lot of great players before me who have had one, so it's great to join them.

“During my ten years at the club, there have been a lot of ups and downs – probably more ups to be fair – and I've been lucky to have been coached by some really good people.

“Each coach has been different, but they have all been really good.

“I remember first coming here. Keighley paid for my flight and I lived with the chairman, Neil Spencer, and his wife Maureen for a year and a half.

“I didn’t have to pay a penny and it was absolutely brilliant. It certainly made the move a lot easier.

“Hopefully I'll play on for another three or four years. You never know what's going to happen with injuries and such like, but I enjoy the hard training and playing the game itself.”

Rawlins, who was due back in pre-season training with the rest of the squad on Tuesday night, missed half the 2009 season after having to return home to Australia due to problems with his work permit but that decision was reversed on appeal.

He went on to be a part of the 2009 and 2011 Championship One promotion-winning squads, building a close friendship with Cougars captain James Feather.

Rawlins made his 200th appearance for the club in the 2015 play-off final defeat to Swinton and was part of the side who beat York in the iPro Sport Cup final last season.

The 30-year-old added: “Like I say, there have been some real ups and downs.

“We got relegated during the dual-reg saga in 2014, which was a shame, and obviously Jonesy (Danny Jones) was a kick in the teeth for the club and all the lads.

“But it made us better people and better players to be fair.

“The 2009 Grand Final has probably been the highlight of my time at Cougars because it was my first senior final and we got the club promoted.

“In 2012 under JD (Jason Demetriou), we got to the Championship play-offs, which hadn't been done for a while by Cougars.

“We narrowly lost to Halifax at their place, and it was a really good year, and getting a huge crowd for the first game at Cougar Park since Jonesy' death was another highlight.

“We played Coventry in front of over 4,000 and I don't think that sort of crowd had been seen since the Cougarmania days.”

Rawlins is happy and settled in Keighley and plans to stick around for some time yet.

He explained: “I’ve got a house, my missus and my little girl here, and we have definitely spoken about going home when I finish playing at some stage.

“It will be tough to do that because I’ve got loads of friends and family here now.

“I came to Keighley when I was 20 and have built a life here.

“I work for an organisation teaching health and fitness to kids around Bradford and Keighley. I enjoy it and it's a really good job trying to help young people.”

Rawlins’ testimonial year begins in February and will include a series of events which could feature an appearance from his old boss Demetriou.

The former Cougars player-coach will be in the UK for the World Club Challenge as his Brisbane Broncos side take on Warrington on Saturday, February 18.

Demetriou was recently appointed as assistant to Wayne Bennett at the Broncos and Rawlins said: “I've got my testimonial committee in place and the first event will be a launch night in February.

“JD is over here and has said he will come, so hopefully he will be able to bring a couple more special guests from the Broncos.

“It should be a really good event, hopefully at Victoria Hall, and we're also going to have a golf day and some family days.

“There will definitely be a game but I'm not sure who it will be against yet.

“One idea I had in the pipeline was to have a League One All-Stars, maybe all the Aussies, to play against us. Details will be announced in due course.”