Gary Hetherington travelled to Australia over the weekend to meet with several potential candidates for the Leeds Rhinos head coach role.
The Rhinos chief executive has begun an “exhaustive search” for a successor to Richard Agar following his resignation.
Jamie Jones-Buchanan is currently in interim charge of the team, which suffered a seventh defeat from eight in all competitions on Friday by falling to champions St Helens at Headingley.
They now have a two-week break between matches as they are out of the Challenge Cup, and Hetherington will hope to make progress towards finding the right appointment in that time, though he has insisted the process will not be rushed.
“I believe this appointment is as important as my decision to bring Tony Smith in back in 2003,” he said.
Australia-based candidates linked with the role include Ryan Carr, a former Leeds assistant to Agar who is now on the coaching staff of Parramatta Eels.
James Webster, Cameron Ciraldo and Paul Green have also been linked but Shane Flanagan, the former Cronulla Sharks coach currently an assistant at St George Illawarra Dragons, is reported to not be interested.
Despite the Australia trip, Hetherington has said that coaches based in the UK will remain under consideration.
“There is interest from coaches overseas. That’s why I am making a short visit to Australia, but there’s also interest from quality coaches in England,” he told the Yorkshire Evening Post.
Former coach and now Hull KR boss Smith was among the home-based names mentioned but he insisted that he had spent “zero time” thinking about the position.
His assistant Danny McGuire is a playing legend at Headingley but he made clear to Sky Sports last week that he had desire to seek the job.
McGuire said: “I’m not ready for a head coach role yet. I’ve only been assistant coach for 18 months since I finished playing.
“It’s way too early for me to think about being in charge of one of the biggest clubs in the world.”
Another man strong linked with the position, former Leeds player and ex-London Broncos coach Danny Ward, is also reported by Sky to have had no contact with the Rhinos.
England Knights coach Paul Anderson, a former Huddersfield Giants coach who won the League Leaders’ Shield with the Giants in 2013, was seen at Headingley on Friday night, watching the Rhinos’ defeat to St Helens.
And Wakefield Trinity coach Willie Poching, a former Leeds player and Academy coach, has said that he would be reluctant to turn his back on Wakefield.
“I feel that I owe Wakefield a lot and I have great respect for Jamie Jones-Buchanan at Headingley,” Poching told League Express.
Jones-Buchanan now has a free week to work with the Leeds side and is confident they will make “big strides”.
He said: “I’ve been speaking to Rich Hunwicks and our performance staff and we have a plan for what we want to do in that time. We’re going to make the most of every minute.”
They suffered a fresh blow last week with Harry Newman ruled out for three months after undergoing hamstring surgery.
David Fusitu’a has also had an operation on a knee injury, but is only expected to be out for another couple of weeks.
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