Just weeks after ruling himself out of contention for the Warriors coaching job, former Newcastle and St George Illawarra mentor Nathan Brown has had a change of heart and is being tipped to be appointed within days.
Brown, who departed the Knights 12 months ago, confirmed on Thursday night that he was now interested in returning to coaching with the Warriors next season, possibly alongside Phil Gould.
"The truth is, I'm a career coach, I love coaching and the Warriors job is a great opportunity, as is the Cowboys job," Brown told Triple M.
"I'm always in dialogue with the Warriors because I actually work for them as a consultant, so there's a lot of truth that I do talk to the Warriors."
The 47-year-old had previously announced his withdrawal from the race to replace Stephen Kearney at the Warriors and NRL.com was told as recently as Tuesday that nothing had changed.
However, his interest has been rekindled in the wake of revelations that Warriors interim coach Todd Payten had turned down the job earlier this week to pursue the vacant North Queensland role.
"About six weeks ago I said 'at this stage it wasn't the right opportunity for me'. The timing wasn't right six or eight weeks ago with some certain things going on in my life."
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Brown had also been linked to the Cowboys job and he refused to confirm reports he was no longer interested in that role, saying: "I can't comment on speculation".
However, he said the opportunity to work with the young talent at the Warriors appealed to him.
"They are at a stage, like the Cowboys, where they have got some good younger players coming through and they have got some good senior players," Brown said. "Both clubs have the potential with junior bases to grow with things done well there."
The development came on the same day that Gould confirmed he was in talks with Warriors CEO Cameron George and owner Mark Robinson about a role at the club.
"We've spoken a couple of times," Gould told The Sydney Morning Herald. "Basically, the owners and CEO are looking for assistance on strategic issues into the future. Most significant would be player development and pathways. This would include their relationship with NZRL.
"The owners and CEO have a real passion for rugby league and are highly motivated to build the NZ Warriors into a powerful club over the coming years. It's one of several opportunities I'm considering. It does look like an exciting challenge though."
Warriors CEO Cameron George said earlier this week that he would support Gould's involvement in any capacity.
"There's a lot of people that think they know what's wrong with the game, but probably only two or three, I reckon, that do know what is wrong with the game and he's one of them, and equally knows how to fix it," George said.
"He's an asset to the game the NRL should explore utilising because we can all benefit from expertise like that and I would highly support Phil joining the NRL in whatever capacity they deem fit."