Rugby league star Andrew Johns says he's had a knot in his stomach as he wrestles with a decision to switch codes but admitted he was no closer to reaching a conclusion.

However, Johns said on Channel Nine's The Footy Show that he would make a final call "in the next couple of days " for "my own piece of mind".

"I can't tell you because I genuinely don't know. I'm just going to get a time and say 'righto, for my own piece of mind and for everyone else's piece of mind (I'll make a decision).

"The last two or three days I have had a big knot in my stomach because I dead set don't know what I am going to do - obviously I am torn between the loyalty of playing rugby league in Newcastle and the new challenge of playing rugby union."

Johns, 30, has been offered lucrative two year deals from his NRL club Newcastle, where he has played rugby league since he was 14, and another from Super 12 rugby union franchise the NSW Waratahs - both reportedly around $1 million a season.

He said a final decision would be based on his personal happiness and the welfare of his family which includes his young son Samuel.

"That's (his son) probably the main thing in my life. If I'm playing rugby and away in South Africa playing union then you miss things like his first day of school," he said.

"I think (the decision will be based on) just happiness for myself. I think everyone realises sometimes in Newcastle it can be like living in a fish bowl but I love living up there.

"But also maybe there is an opportunity for a new start, that's what appeals in rugby union...I go over there, I challenge myself, got to earn the respect of my teammates.

"I've been at the same club now since I have been 14. I love it up there, all my closest mates are who I play footy with but sometimes you get to the stage where maybe I need a new challenge - I've just got to decide."

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