Michael Maguire has been linked to four clubs in the space of the past week but he said he is in the dark as much as anyone about a potential return to the NRL coaching ranks.
Maguire, in an interview on the Breakfast with Mark Levy and Mark Riddell program on Macquarie Sports Radio on Friday morning, said he had "no idea" when asked directly if he would be coaching the Broncos, Wests Tigers, Panthers or Sea Eagles in 2019.
Broncos CEO Paul White on Friday morning said his club had not made an approach to Maguire or any other coach since earlier this year sounding out Craig Bellamy about potentially taking over the reins from Wayne Bennett in 2020.
Tigers coach Ivan Cleary has stated he intends to honour his deal with his club which runs until the end of 2020, Penrith are on the lookout for a new full-time coach after caretaker Cameron Ciraldo took over from Anthony Griffin last week while Sea Eagles coach Trent Barrett on Thursday said he was contracted to be at the Manly helm next year but could not guarantee he would be on deck.
Maguire, who began his coaching career under Bellamy at the Storm, had two successful seasons at Wigan before he led South Sydney to a drought-breaking premiership in 2014. After the Rabbitohs sacked him at the end of last season, he has taken over as New Zealand head coach.
Coaches Corner: How coaching rumours/changes affect teams?
"I'm aware that there is a lot of noise around the coaching but at the moment I have full respect for the coaches that are there and I'm not going to go into too much detail because I don't have any," Maguire said.
When asked specifically about the possibility of replacing Bennett at the Broncos, he replied: "I have full respect for the coach that's there so I don't want to add to anything but there has been no contact.
"We've had no contact, so yeah I'm not quite sure where that one has come from."
Maguire, who has also been working with the NRL referees this year, was open about his desire to return to the Telstra Premiership coaching ranks.
"I'm pretty keen to get back in and obviously the selection of the club is a very important part of what happens," he said.
"I've been very fortunate I suppose that I'm doing a lot with the Kiwis now and enjoying that time and I think I've met probably 60 or 70 of the Kiwi kids across the competition so it's been great."
Working with the refs has been an eye-opener.
"One thing I've taken out of it is how hard they work and what they want to achieve for the game," he said.
"They're really passionate about their jobs. They are working extremely hard to be at the highest level every game."
