Wallabies flyer Drew Mitchell is poised to follow Matt Giteau out the Western Force's door, heightening fears of a eastward-bound exodus from the Perth club.

As the Australian Rugby Union considers how to help prevent the fledgling WA team falling apart, Mitchell and fellow hot property James O'Connor admitted Giteau's departure significantly affected their future plans.

Queensland-product Mitchell was understood to have been seriously considering a move back east before Giteau on the weekend announced his return to the Brumbies next season.

Like Giteau, the 29-Test speedster had lost money owing to him through a third-party deal from former Force backer Firepower and has not been remunerated.

All three Australian Super 14 rivals are keen to snap up Mitchell with the Brumbies the early favourite due to his friendship and the lure of continuing to play with Giteau.

But the Reds, who are playing a far more attractive and attacking game to when Mitchell left in 2006, are also in the running, and can offer him his preferred fullback position.

NSW are also interested in Mitchell, and have a possible opening at No.15 despite Sam Norton-Knight's solid form, but the Waratahs are believed to be the strongest contender for young gun O'Connor.

Mitchell on Monday praised Giteau for the way he handled his lengthy contract negotiations and indicated he would follow his lead.

"Obviously I'm pretty close to Matt and I've been speaking to him for a while," he said. "Knowing his situation I completely understand it and I wouldn't have done anything different to what he did.

"It was an unfortunate situation Matt got in and I certainly commend the way he handled himself."

Mitchell admitted joining Giteau in Canberra in 2010 was "an option worth looking at".

"A big part of my reasoning in coming over here was to play with Matt Giteau," he said. "It's going to weigh quite heavily onto my considerations as to what team I'll play with next year.

"For me, my next contract will take me to another World Cup campaign (in 2011) and I want to make sure that I give myself every opportunity to be in the reckoning for selection for that."

Mitchell said he aimed to make a quick decision after weighing up the direction and program of prospective suitors but denied playing fullback over wing would be a major factor.

The Reds, who are also circling Queensland-bred Wallabies No.8 Richard Brown, see a place for Mitchell at No.15, a jersey that the Brumbies would be less likely to offer due to the continued good form of Mark Gerrard.

But Queensland's chief recruiter, Ben Whitaker, said their main priority was first retaining the likes of off-contract Wallabies Berrick Barnes and Digby Ioane.

The Reds would only be interested in utility O'Connor, who the Force are desperate to now groom as Giteau's playmaking successor, if they lost interim skipper Barnes.

The 18-year-old Gold Coaster was at pains to point out he was focussing on 2009 but conceded Giteau's move affected his own negotiations.

"Gits was one of the main reasons I came over to the Force, to learn off him," said O'Connor, who is in doubt for Saturday's clash with the Brumbies due to an ankle injury.

"But we've got a lot of good players at the Force, we've got a solid team I believe."

Contract concessions have been mooted as a way to aid the Force keeping a competitive Super 14 team in the AFL-mad state, but the ARU is in no hurry to make changes.

"We're certainly not having any knee-jerk reaction into thinking we've got to change things," said ARU high-performance manager David Nucifora. "But we're always looking at ways to improve our processes and the contracting process and model is one of those."

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