New Sydney Roosters recruit Cooper Cronk says the challenge – not money – inspired him to join the Bondi club next season.

Speaking on Fox Sports’ NRL 360, the halfback hinted that his realistic options were retirement or the Roosters.

“The tough choice was playing on or retiring, that was the toughest one. And then as I said the week after the grand final and enjoying the festivities and being successful in the back end of the finals, I really had that hunger to play on and I think I even said after the grand final, it’s pretty hard to walk away from moments like this,” he said.

“I love being tested I love being put under the microscope and put under pressure to play the best I can on a Saturday night at 7.30. It’s hard to walk away from all the advice people gave me was that you’re a long time retired and, while it would have been very romantic and a nice story to walk away from the Melbourne Storm, I still had that itch and that drive to want to be tested on the big stage and play and that was the decision.

“Yeah, there were other options but I’m sure you can understand when you go through contract negotiations they’re done pretty privately and a lot of confidentiality around it, so there were conversations had and done with the utmost respect considering the Melbourne Storm were still there. It ended up being the Roosters that were the best option and I’m honestly super excited for it.”

Cronk also admitted to calling disgruntled incumbent Mitchell Pearce on Monday morning.

“I had a chat to Mitchell earlier today, I won’t go into specifics or anything like that, but it wasn’t about me convincing or preaching or anything like that. Mitchell’s been front and centre at the Roosters for a long time and as I said he’s got an arsenal of weapons to play in the halves that I think he can dominate. And there’s a few things I think I can help him with and there’s a lot of things I think he can help me with, so there’s going to be a lot of things that we can do together.

“That’s my preferred option, that everyone stays and buys into the Roosters culture, which I’m going to have to dive into and understand as quickly as possible.”