St George Illawarra coach Nathan Brown says he will only remain at the Dragons under Wayne Bennett next season if he feels the job will take him closer to a return to the NRL.

Brown admitted he hadn't given too much thought to what his future held beyond this season, but denied he would let ego get in the way of accepting an assistant job at any club.

That may well yet be at the Dragons, though Bennett has yet to make any comment on who will be in his support staff when he links with the joint-venture club in 2009.

Brown dismissed claims he was washed up as a coach at just 34 years old, re-affirming his desire to again coach at the highest level once his six-year term with the Dragons ends this year.

"My No.1 preference is to go and work somewhere that can enable me to become a head coach in the NRL again," Brown told ABC radio on Sunday.

"Wherever that is or whoever that's working with, under or who or where, that's probably the decision that I'll make.

"I'm just going to see what opportunities there are for myself and who to work with ... I'm not sure who's out there and who thinks I've got something to offer them for starters.

"There's some people out there I'm pretty positive will give me a job and think that I can help out some way."

And while his family is settled in Sydney's southern suburbs, Brown said he would be open to offers from the English Super League.

"Whether it's to go to England or if I've got to go back and become an assistant coach for two, three, four or five years, that's something I'm happy to do as well," Brown said.

"A lot of people think maybe my ego wouldn't want to do that but I'm quite comfortable to take a step backwards if it helps me take three forwards."

Brown has many friends in the coaching caper and, despite modest success at the Dragons, is well regarded for his football brain.

He also knows the best way for him to audition for another gig is to finish off his stay at the Dragons on a strong note.

Things haven't gone to script so far with Saturday night's loss to Cronulla seeing the red and whites slip to a 1-3 record, with only the winless South Sydney below them on the table.

"If we win yesterday we're one win off the lead, so there's a lot of fight in us," Brown said.

"I haven't really sat down and spoke to my manager about (his future) because I've just tried to put more of my time into having a good year with the Dragons because that's what my main focus is.

"My greatest advertisement is how we go this year."

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