South Sydney’s Dylan Farrell says family came ahead of his personal feelings when he made the decision to leave the Rabbitohs at the end of the year.

Farrell will leave the NRL premiership frontrunners at the end of the 2013 campaign to join St George Illawarra, after a season where he’s been limited to just seven appearances so far.

The 22-year-old denies he was forced out of the Rabbitohs, saying he probably would have stayed at Redfern if it hadn’t been for his young family.

“The only thing that got me over the line is I’m from down that way,” Farrell told AAP.

“I’ve got a three-year-old daughter and a son on the way so it was more about looking after the family. If I was single I daresay I would’ve stayed.

“It’s really going to hurt to leave the club, they’ve really looked after me.”

After debuting with a hat-trick in 2010, Farrell went on to establish himself as a first-choice in the past two seasons and played in the first five rounds of this year’s campaign.

But as the Bunnies hit new heights, Farrell found himself sidelined, making just one appearance in round 15 against Parramatta before earning a recall for last weekend’s thumping of Gold Coast.

His display in that 32-4 win over the Titans was enough to keep him in the team for Saturday’s trip to Townsville to play North Queensland and Farrell says he’s determined to keep his spot as Souths chase their first premiership in over four decades.

“I’ve been here since `07 now,” Farrell said.

“At the moment I’m fully concentrated on staying in this side and doing as well as I can here.

“That’s (the Dragons) next year, so I’m not too worried about that at the moment, hopefully I can finish on a really good note here.”