Highly-regarded Geelong Cats boss Brian Cook and Richmond Tigers CEO Brendon Gale received separate approaches before Christmas from recruitment agency Crown & Marks, which is acting on behalf of the NRL.

Both Cook and Gale, widely considered the top two CEOs at AFL club level, had a number of conversations with the recruitment agency, but declined the NRL's invitation to a formal interview for the job.

Fairfax Media understands the Australian boss of an international hotel chain is one of the 10 external applicants in the interview process, with another six candidates from within the NRL also in the frame for the job.

The money on offer for the vacant NRL CEO position is not as much as Smith's contract, which was believed to be worth in excess of $1.5 million. The new CEO stands to earn $1 million a year, a similar figure to what the top AFL club bosses earn.

It is significantly lower than the $3.3 million contract AFL chief executive Gillon Mclachlan is reportedly on and lower than the $2.2 million former AFL boss Andrew Demetriou was earning.

While Australian Rugby League Commission chairman John Grant insists the new chief executive must have a love and knowledge for rugby league, the NRL has expanded its search across the country in a bid to find the right person to lead the game.

Scottish-born Cook, who almost took the North Melbourne job in 2012, is widely considered the No.1 club chief executive in the AFL, starting his career as the boss of the West Coast Eagles in 1990.

Cook transformed the club into a powerhouse, quadrupling membership and helping the Eagles become the first non-Victorian club to win the AFL premiership in 1992.

Gale played 244 games for Richmond between 1990 and 2001, moving on to the CEO role at the AFL Players Association before taking the job as the Tigers boss. It is understood Gale perceives his job at the Tigers to be half done, while Cook was reluctant to uproot his family to Sydney.

The NRL is in the process of meeting with all 10 external applicants, with the aim of whittling down the number to a shortlist of two or three by mid-February.

The six NRL-linked candidates include NRL head of football Todd Greenberg, Canterbury Bulldogs chief executive Raelene Castle and Warriors boss Jim Doyle, who was the chief operating officer under Smith for two years.

Interviews with the NRL-aligned candidates will follow the external breakdown and will also be reduced to similar numbers to provide the NRL with a final list of four to six applicants to choose from at the end of next month.

The NRL is bracing itself for the possibility the new chief executive may not start until August, depending on the length of notice they will need to provide their current employer.

The commission is not tied to appointing a figure from within the NRL's senior ranks but Grant said other candidates had to demonstrate a strong affiliation with the code as well as other leadership attributes.

"It needs to be made very clear that one of the entry point criteria is the new CEO will have a knowledge of and a love for the game," Grant said.

"I think to be the CEO of this organisation you actually do a lot with the sport so you've got to be very understanding of sport and understanding of rugby league."

Smith, who took over from David Gallop despite an obvious lack of rugby league knowledge, stood down from the chief executive role in October last year just three years into a five-year deal.