JEFF White knows next week's game will probably be his last for Melbourne. He hopes it is not his last as an AFL player.

The All-Australian ruckman, out of contract at season's end, wants to play on beyond this season and has accepted that if that cannot be at Melbourne, then he will seek a new club.

"If I was in a position to retire, I would be doing it right now. I would be doing a press conference and getting everyone along for my last Melbourne game. But I am long from retired, I reckon I have got another two years left in me. The body is still good, the mind is still good, I am still motivated to play and I want to give myself every opportunity to play next year," White said yesterday.

Drafted by Fremantle, White returned to Melbourne at his earliest opportunity and, after 11 years as a Demon, was this year made a life member. He holds no grudge with the club or the coaching staff for going with youth and promoting Mark Jamar and Paul Johnson ahead of him.

Earlier this year, he spent a month in the VFL as Melbourne — then bottom of the ladder and likely to remain there — resolved that White, at 31, would be unlikely to be the ruckman when Melbourne contends for a flag, so the season was better spent investing time in younger players.

"Since missing a game in 2003 with my shin, I played 100 games straight before I got dropped," White said.

"It was a bit out of the blue to be dropped because at that stage, I was averaging 20 possessions a match, which is my career-high. But I know I was not dropped on form, I was dropped because they wanted to play youth and that is fine, I understand that.

"The youth policy probably also means that for me to play on next year, it will probably have to be somewhere else. I have absolutely no animosity towards the club for that. I said to the coaching staff if I take my football cap off and look in as an outsider, I would say, 'Yep, I totally understand that, I understand your reasons for that'.

"But from a personal point of view, I want to play … and if it is with another club next year, then that is what I want to do."

White, at 195 centimetres, is short for a ruckman and has, like his new chairman Jim Stynes, who played the role before him, operated more as a ruck-rover type.

The centre-circle ruck rule did not help the shorter ruckmen, limiting their run-up and leap, but White has found more of the ball around the ground this year. When he went to the VFL, he worked harder to kick more goals and averaged two a game for Sandringham.

"I think the game is actually trending towards my style of game as a mobile ruckman. Look at (Dean) Cox — he is averaging 22 possessions a game (for West Coast) and that is something that at the start of the year the coaching staff said to me, 'Over the last few years, you have averaged 16, 17 possessions a game; we want to get you to 20 possessions a game', which I did but then I got dropped for the youth policy," White said.

"I just don't want to shut the door on my career, I don't believe I am ready for that. And look, they re-signed James McDonald last week, so you never know.

"We were to have a meeting this week after they have a list management meeting because I said if next week is going to be my last game for Melbourne, I want to know, so I can let people know and get them along.

"I love the club and would love to play on, so it is not a decision I take lightly, but I just feel I have more in me."

White's manager, Alex McDonald of Stride, said his client had been confronted by the problem of all players aged over 27 who had the misfortune to be in a side when it fell to the bottom of the ladder.

"If Melbourne was in the top eight, there would be no question of where Jeff White would be playing football next year. But Melbourne is on the bottom and the situation changes," McDonald said. "We know the bigger players mature later and Jeff is 31 and still in great physical shape."

Oddly for a player who left the Dockers anxious to return to Melbourne, White will not remain in Victoria when his AFL career ends.

He fell in love with the Gold Coast, then fell in love on the Gold Coast, finding his wife there. Now his own family lives there. He has bought a house on the Gold Coast and plans that that is where he will live the rest of his life.

Clearly, GC17 has come a decade too late, though a role could emerge with the club as White has indicated that should he not play AFL next year and find himself in Queensland sooner than he would hope, he wishes to play football in some capacity there and perhaps get involved in coaching or assistant coaching.

He will also launch a new sports classified website next month, sponsorthem.com. It is a type of facebook site for athletes and teams on which they can upload their profiles to raise money and which allows athletes to communicate with each other for tips on diet or training.