Despite his curtailed season, Sims was a finalist in the best rookie and best second-rower categories of the Dally M Awards. During the year, Sims was invited to join the New South Wales State of Origin team during training. Sims finished his stellar debut year in the NRL with him playing in 20 matches and scoring 5 tries. On 8 September 2011, Sims re-signed with North Queensland on a four-year contract to the end of the 2015 season. On 2 November 2011, Sims was shortlisted for the Rugby League International Federation’s Second Rower of the Year award.

On 22 April 2012, Sims made his representative debut for NSW Country Origin against NSW City Origin off the interchange bench and scored a double in the 24–22 loss at Mudgee.

Sims had a successful surgery which involved a steel rod being inserted into his leg to help with the healing process and to stop another break. He returned to full contact training in the week of the Cowboys’ semi-final loss to the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles. Sims played in 7 matches and scored 1 try in 2012. On 21 December, Sims was taken to hospital after suffering from dehydration at North Queensland’s off season army-style boot camp at Lavarack Barracks.

On 16 September 2014, Sims missed the rest of the NRL finals series after being making a guilty plea for a grade three shoulder charge offence for a second-half incident with Brisbane Broncos fullback Justin Hodges in North Queensland’s 32–20 victory in Week 1 of the elimination finals at 1300SMILES Stadium. That match was Sims’ last for the Cowboys. The Cowboys were later eliminated in Week 2 by the Sydney Roosters. Sims scored 6 tries in 21 matches in 2014.

On 4 May, Sims played prop for NSW Country Origin in the 26–26 draw at Dubbo. On 4 July, Sims signed a two-year contract with the Newcastle Knights starting in 2015, where he would join his younger brother Korbin Sims.

On 13 January, Sims was named in the emerging New South Wales Blues squad. In February, he co-captained the Knights in the 2016 NRL Auckland Nines. On 26 February, he was announced as one of three co-captains for the Knights alongside Trent Hodkinson and Jeremy Smith. On 8 May, for the fifth year in a row, he played for New South Wales Country against New South Wales City. On 31 May, he signed a 3-year contract with the St. George Illawarra Dragons starting in 2017. However, after negotiating over the next month, he was released early to the Dragons mid-season. He played in 8 matches for the Knights that season before the mid-season switch. In round 15, he made his club debut for St. George Illawarra against the Melbourne Storm, where he played off the interchange bench in the Dragons’ 20–10 win at WIN Stadium.

In 2017, Sims was part of the St. George Illawarra side which finished 9th in the 2017 NRL season despite being in the top 8 for most of the season. A disastrous run of form, culminating in a heartbreaking round 26 loss to Canterbury which allowed North Queensland to overtake them into 8th spot, saw them miss out on the finals.

In 2018, Sims was selected as part of The NSW Blues squad for the 2018 State of Origin series. Sims did not feature in the first two games of the series for The Blues but was called into the side for the dead rubber game 3 match in Brisbane. Sims was part of the St George side which qualified for the finals in 2018. In week one of the finals, St George faced a highly fancied Brisbane side at Suncorp Stadium with not many experts predicting an upset. St George ended up surprising many as they won the match 48–18 with Sims scoring 3 tries. The following week, Sims was taken from the field with a knee injury as St George were eliminated from the finals series losing 13–12 to South Sydney.

Sims is the older brother of Korbin Sims, who in 2019 joined him at the St George–Illawarra club, and the younger brother of Toronto Wolfpack player Ashton Sims, He also has two younger twin brothers Aj and Ky and a younger sister Taylah. His elder sister Ruan Sims currently plays for the Sydney Roosters in the NRL Women’s Premiership.