Kiwis coach Michael Maguire insists his only focus is leading New Zealand to a series victory over England and not on the coaching merry-go-round transpiring in the NRL.
Reports in Australia say Maguire has accepted a three-year, $2.7 million deal with the Wests Tigers that will come into effect once the NRL club finalises the release of Ivan Cleary, so he can re-join the Panthers.
The Tigers are expected to announce the departure of Cleary by Monday, which would allow them to confirm the Maguire news.
It would complete the coaching merry-go-round, which has seen Des Hasler return to the Manly Sea Eagles and England coach Wayne Bennett sign with the Rabbitohs from 2020, with current South Sydney mentor Anthony Seibold the frontrunner to replace Bennett at the Broncos.
When Maguire signed with the New Zealand Rugby League (NZRL) in May, he negotiated a clause in his contract that would enable him to coach in the NRL, as well as the national side.
The 44-year-old is currently with the Kiwis in Wigan, helping them prepare for the first of three tests against England, starting on Sunday (NZ time).
When pressed about the rumours at Saturday's captain's run, Maguire was quick to shift the focus back to the Kiwis test.
"At the moment, I'm pretty keen to focus just on this Kiwi game," he said. "All those sorts of things sort themselves out in time.
"But this is a really important game for us and an important game for New Zealand, every test match is.
"They've been working really hard in the background and I think it's a real credit to NZRL to get themselves into a strong position now and moving forward. So for myself, the focus is on what we need to do tomorrow."
Maguire named the same 17 players that beat Australia 26-24 two weeks ago in Auckland to face the English in the first test. He is hoping to see if his players can back-up that performance to truly see where his side is at.
"We're building a culture in the team of performance and I think rewarding performance is something we want to do moving forward.
"That's really coming from the senior leaders and they're driving a lot of that so it makes my job easy.
"I'm really looking forward to the boys getting out and performing and backing up what we did last week - that's what counts at this present moment.
"I've really seen a shift in the mindset of the group and I'm looking forward to seeing that play it's part when we get out here tomorrow".
Maguire will also warn his players about the atmosphere they can expect from a crowd of around 20,000 at KCOM Stadium.
"I can't wait. I've had some great clashes here when I was back coaching at Wigan.
"I'm really looking forward to the noise. It's one thing we can take away from the English fans, the singing and the noise.
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