Knights CEO Phil Gardner says the club will not stand in assistant coach David Furner's way if he is offered a head coaching job at a rival NRL club for next season.
But Gardner claims there would "need to be a discussion" around Furner being released from the final two years of his contract in Newcastle to take up an equivalent assistant's role elsewhere.
In the past week, Furner has been mentioned as a potential candidate for the top job at St George Illawarra following Paul McGregor's departure while there has also been media speculation suggesting he is in the sights of the Canterbury Bulldogs as an assistant to incoming coach Trent Barrett.
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Gardner is aware of the rumours but says he has not spoken to Furner about them.
"There has been no conversation with Dave about any of that at this stage,"Gardner said.
"But he is obviously a very good coach who is doing a great job with us alongside Adam [O'Brien] and the rest of the coaching staff so I'm not surprised there is interest in him.
"I don't think there is any question we would allow him to pursue a head coaching role elsewhere if something concrete came up in that respect.
"But if it was a similar job to what he has here with us, there would certainly need to be a discussion around all that I would have thought."
A decorated player with Canberra, Furner became head coach of the Raiders in 2009, a position he held for five seasons. He has since been an assistant coach at the North Queensland Cowboys and at South Sydney at a time when both clubs won premierships before linking with the Knights this season under O'Brien.
He also had a stint as the Kangaroos assistant coach when Tim Sheens was in the top job and briefly coached Leeds in the English Super League.
Knights coach Adam O'Brien said Furner has had a huge influence on him in his first season at the helm of an NRL club.
"I've known Furnsey since I was 15 and as a young, first time NRL coach, he's been a massive help to me already this season,"O'Brien said.
"He has done an enormous job with our forwards and I've got absolutely no doubts he would be a great asset to any club as a head coach. He's really experienced and has done the job before at the Raiders and players just really respect him.
"We obviously wouldn't want to lose him but at the same time, we're not going to stand in his way either if something does come up for him."
