Cowboys assistant coach David Furner has emerged as the man to help Michael Maguire halt the alarming slide at Souths as they try to lure the former Raiders head coach to Redfern.
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A day after Furner's old club handed out a humiliating 50-point hiding to the Rabbitohs, Fairfax Media understands the 2014 premiers are circling Furner to be the centrepiece of a backroom shake-up for Maguire.
Current assistants Kurt Wrigley and Wayne Collins are unlikely to serve under Maguire next season and Furner has been targeted as the No.1 priority to help the premiership-winning coach return the steel to the embattled club.
Maguire, who is under contract until the end of 2017, is considered to be on safe ground for next year despite the Rabbitohs slumping to their eighth straight loss on the weekend, having long tumbled out of finals contention.
The Raiders rout was also their worst loss to Canberra and most points they've conceded under the reign of Maguire, who signed an extension at the club early in their title-winning year.
Furner was a key plank of Paul Green's brains trust during the Cowboys' fairytale charge to a first premiership last season, and has previously served under Tim Sheens as a Kangaroos assistant during Australia's World Cup-winning 2013 campaign.
His potential exit would be a bitter pill to swallow for Green, who already lost his other right-hand man, John Cartwright, the former Titans mentor, to Manly after last year's premiership.
Furner headed to Townsville after being unceremoniously axed as the Raiders head coach following almost five years in charge in the nation's capital.
He was told of his axing by his brother Don, which led to Ricky Stuart's arrival and subsequent revival of the Green Machine.
But Furner has since provided an experienced voice for Green in his first NRL head coaching gig and is considered a shrewd tactician by those who have worked alongside him.
And the Rabbitohs have certainly taken notice with the grand final winners from two years ago targeting last year's trophy lifters in a bid to return the starch to arguably the season's biggest disappointments.
Souths' torrid year won't get any easier when they travel to Melbourne to take on the high-flying Storm on Saturday, with the Sharks and Bulldogs also among their opponents during the run-in.
Greg Inglis is likely to return from suspension and slot straight into the No. 6 jersey against his old club, having sat out the past three matches for a shoulder charge on Josh Dugan in State of Origin III.
Roosters-bound playmaker Luke Keary might not feature in the cardinal and myrtle again after limping off with a hamstring injury early on Sunday, and halfback Adam Reynolds played in discomfort for most of the match.
The Rabbitohs held a sombre recovery session at South Maroubra on Monday as they tried to forget the nightmare 10-tries-to-one pasting a day earlier.
"From myself I want to apologise for the performance we put in [on Sunday] because it is not good enough for us or our fans," hooker Cameron McInnes said.
"We are in a place that is very challenging and very difficult that not a lot of us have been in before.
"There is a lot of soul searching and we are really trying to get our way out of it. We will keep pushing each other to find a way out."
Meanwhile the Rabbitohs' English international, Sam Burgess, will avoid suspension with an early guilty plea after being charged over dangerous contact with Raiders prop Shannon Boyd in the dying minutes of Sunday's clash.
with AAP
