The Canberra Raiders will look to extend the contract of David Furner before they would consider throwing their hat in the ring for one of the game's most highly sought after coaches, home-grown product Michael Maguire.
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The Raiders have also left the door open for premiership-winning mentor Tim Sheens to return in a consulting role.
Maguire will have no shortage of offers when his deal with premiership front-runner South Sydney expires at the end of next year.
The former St Edmund's College student has been a revelation in his second season in the NRL; the Rabbitohs are favourites to win their first title since 1971.
Furner's deal with the Raiders is also up at the end of 2014, as are the deals of Cowboys coach Neil Henry and St George Illawarra's Steve Price.
While talks have yet to begin about a new contract, Raiders chairman John McIntyre said retaining Furner remained the club's priority.
''If for some reason or other David wasn't going to be there obviously you would [consider Maguire], but we're pretty comfortable with the fact David will be there, and he'll be there for the long haul,'' McIntyre said.
''We've been happy [with Furner]. He's highly thought of outside of the Canberra Raiders.''
Raiders group general manager Simon Hawkins will handle any negotiations with Furner.
As was the case with his previous contract, Raiders chief executive Don Furner has removed himself from the re-signing process so there is no perceived conflict of interest over his brother.
Along with his Raiders duties, David Furner is also an assistant coach to Sheens with the Australian team.
Sheens led the Raiders during the club's golden era, steering them to their titles in 1989, 1990 and 1994.
The Raiders had looked into bringing Sheens back as a consultant once he parted ways with the Wests Tigers at the end of last season.
However, he was unable to link with the Raiders while he worked through negotiating a settlement with the Tigers. ''We've spoken with [Sheens] about helping us with our high-performance unit, but he couldn't take that on because it would jeopardise his commitment that Wests Tigers are disputing at the moment,'' McIntyre said.
''It's something that once he does resolve that we'd look at that in the future.''
Furner is in his fifth season in charge of the Raiders after taking over from Henry in 2009.
He has taken the Raiders to the finals twice - in 2010 and 2012.
Furner was initially signed on a four-year deal before putting pen to paper for a further two seasons at the end of 2011.
The Raiders are currently 11th on the NRL ladder ahead of Sunday's match with Henry's North Queensland Cowboys at Canberra Stadium.
Injuries have halted the Raiders' charge, but McIntyre believes making the finals remains realistic. ''It'd be something we'd like to be able to achieve, and I still think it's well and truly achievable,'' he said.
The Raiders have six of their final nine games of the season at home. They are unbeaten at home this year.
After the Cowboys match, the home games are against the Eels, the Storm, the Bulldogs, the Sea Eagles and the Sharks.