Former Newcastle and St George Illawarra mentor Nathan Brown appears set to be named as the next NRL coach of the Warriors in the coming days.
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Reports surfaced on Thursday night that Brown had withdrawn his interest in coaching North Queensland as talks with the Warriors, where he is employed as a consultant, progressed.
Speaking on Triple M, Brown did not confirm the reports but did not deny them when asked directly.
He said he couldn't "speculate on speculation".
"I'm a career coach," Brown said.
"I love coaching and the Warriors job is a great opportunity, as is the Cowboys job.
"I'm always in dialogue with the Warriors because I work for them as a consultant.
"Peter O'Sullivan is their recruitment officer and a good friend of mine and we speak quite often."
The 47-year-old Brown was asked if he would join the Warriors immediately.
He said he would be available for radio commitments for the next eight to 10 weeks, which is the remainder of the 2020 NRL season.
The appointment of Brown from 2021 would end weeks of speculation after the Warriors abruptly sacked head coach Stephen Kearney in late June.
Interim coach Todd Payten said earlier this week that he has already turned down an offer to succeed Kearney on a permanent basis.
Payten is believed to be in the running to take the vacant position at North Queensland.
Brown most recently led the Knights between 2016 and 2019 and is known as a development coach.
Although his winning percentage with Newcastle was just 26 per cent, he is credited with rebuilding their roster and ironing out dire salary cap issues.
However, he could not get the the Knights to the finals.
The Warriors have played just one finals match in the past eight seasons and are desperate for success.
What Brown would confirm is his ambition to become an NRL head coach once again.
"As I always say, there's limited amount of (NRL coaching jobs) about and a lot of coaches that want them," he said.
"Like the Cowboys, (the Warriors) are in a stage where they've got some good young players coming through, some good senior players and some room to work.
"Both Cowboys and Warriors jobs, the clubs have the potential with junior bases to grow with things done well there.
"There's such limited jobs."
Australian Associated Press
