The former Socceroo and Jets forward, now back in Newcastle, was all set to join Malaysia Super League side Sarawak in November from Chinese League One team Beijing Baxy.

Griffiths had originally moved to Baxy from the Jets in February, after securing an early release of his contract with the A-League club.
 

“There’s a rule there that because I played in the second division, you can’t play for any second division team regardless of what country and sign for the Malaysian top league,” he said.

“Which is pretty ridiculous. So that barred me from going to Sarawak, which is a little bit disappointing.”

Griffiths is currently back in Australia spending time with his family. He scored nine goals in 22 matches for Baxy and banged in 19 goals in 55 appearances over two and a half seasons at Hunter Stadium.

“I’m not really doing much, waiting for something to come along,” he said. “Because it’s such a quiet time for transfers I haven’t heard much from anybody at all. So I’m just biding my time, staying fit and healthy, and wait see when the transfers open up.”

Griffiths, who has three spells in China with different clubs as well as a stint in Romania, has been training by himself in Newcastle. The 32-year old winger is open to returning to the A-League but going back to China appears most likely.

“Most of the interest is coming from China, just because I’ve got a good reputation there,” he said. “But I’m not really saying no to the A-League.

"My priority would be to stay with the Jets but from what they’ve told me they don’t have the funds or anything like that at the moment.

"I enjoyed my time overseas and new experiences, so I’m not too fussed on where I end up going as long as it’s nothing too scary.”

While back in Newcastle the Sutherland Sharks junior has been running his own personalized striker training sessions.

Griffiths says he had planned to set up his own academy while he was at the Jets.
 

“It’s something I wouldn’t mind doing in the future,” he said. “It’s something I enjoy doing and I kind of take pride in it.

"It’s more I don’t want to be just labeled as someone that starts an academy and is all in it just for making money.

"But it definitely would be a good way of getting personalized lessons for kids, specific training not for football all round, just specifically for shooting and teaching them how to get in the positions to score.

"I think when you finish football a lot of people really miss football that’s why they go into coaching. Some people go straight into coaching, they don’t even think about it.

"But a lot of people go through a transition where they think do I want to be associated for football, or do I want to do something completely different.”