The Brad Abbey-Clay Priest player swap looks set to be finalised in the coming days, with Canterbury fullback Abbey joining the Canberra Raiders in exchange for prop Priest.
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It adds to the traffic between the two NRL clubs after Dean Pay left his Raiders assistant coaching role to join the Bulldogs as the head coach.
There's also the potential Steve Antonelli, coach of Raiders' NSW Cup affiliate Mounties, could form part of Pay's coaching staff.
Bulldogs incoming chief executive Andrew Hill, who will take up his role at Canterbury once he's finished as Rugby League World Cup boss, felt the Abbey-Priest swap was close to being finalised.
"That's coming to the final stages. We've been in constant dialogue with the players, player agents and the clubs and we're hoping there's resolution in the coming days around that potential player swap," he said.
While the Bulldogs role will be Pay's first in charge of an NRL club, Hill was confident his apprenticeship under Raiders coach Ricky Stuart and Melbourne Storm mentor Craig Bellamy before that had prepared the former Canterbury forward.
"I'm very confident [in Dean]. Dean's served a long apprenticeship under Bellamy at Melbourne, Ricky at Canberra," Hill said.
"He has of course coached in the under-20s competition at the Sydney Roosters and Melbourne Storm [plus] he's had a lot of success at the NSW level for five years.
"There's no doubt Dean was in that category as the 'next NRL coach' and we believe he was on top of that list ... then the added benefit is he knows the club culture and he can work with the club to restore the Bulldogs of old."
