Melbourne Rebels captain Stirling Mortlock will let his body tell him when it's time to hang up his boots.

The 34-year-old is still undecided on whether or not this will be his final season of Super Rugby, but believes he'll only know if he has another year left in him once the season is in full swing.

"In my case I do really love doing what I do so it's more about the body," the former Wallabies captain told AAP.

Mortlock has recovered from a serious back injury in time to add to his 138 Super Rugby caps, having started his career with the Brumbies in 1998.

"I'll play the trials, get into the tournament and then hopefully the body will be talking to me by then; it will make sense," he added.

"My body responds better when I put it under some strain and a bit of load so I've got to do the training and the work.

"I found last year the more games I played the better I went."

Rebels coach Damien Hill has thrown his full support behind Mortlock, and will back his skipper should he wish to see out his contract with the Melbourne franchise.

"Stirling's still getting personal bests in the gym so he's continuing to improve," Hill said.

"As long as that happens he's definitely a possibility to continue."

The Rebels, who finished a distant last in their inaugural Super Rugby season, want to see how far they have come in the last year with some good pre-season performances.

"We're in full battle mode I suppose," Mortlock said.

"The guys are a little bit on edge at the moment.We've been working extremely hard but from now everything goes up a couple of levels."