KEY POINTS:
Nathan Fien looks set to stay with the Warriors next season after difficulties finding a club in the UK.
Warriors bosses granted the 29-year-old permission to find another club after he was told he was not in the club's plan beyond 2009.
However, he has so far been
unable to secure a contract and the longer it takes, the greater the likelihood he will remain at Mt Smart Stadium next season.
Fien had been set to ink a deal with Huddersfield, who will be coached by Nathan Brown next season, but the Super League club decided instead to sign former Raiders bad-boy Todd Carney.
"That put a bit of a dent in the plans," Fien admitted. "My manager is in the UK at the moment but nothing has come of that at this stage, nothing worth packing up the whole family and moving halfway across the world.
"At this stage I will be running out in the Warriors jersey next year. Having said that, things change very quickly. There's a world cup coming up and I have aspirations to be involved [with the Kiwis] so who knows what will come after that? We are still talking to a few clubs."
If Fien stays, it would not alarm Warriors management. With 184 NRL games under his belt, he provides proven depth at both hooker and in the halves and in the past 14 weeks has done a decent job at halfback.
His shift there, and Ian Henderson's to hooker, has been a factor in the Warriors' turnaround in fortunes in the second half of the season. Fien has added more reliability to the kicking game and dependability on attack than Grant Rovelli.
The Warriors made a conscious decision to add depth to the halves and have recruited Brisbane's Joel Moon to play at five-eighth as well as Liam Foran and Aaron Heremaia at halfback.
"The thing is we are very happy here," Fien said. "We were just a little concerned that a decision had been made on my future before a ball had even been kicked in the 2009 season. I was just looking for other opportunities.
"I guess it's fair to say that the longer it [the search for a new club] goes on, the more chance that I will stay here.
"I'm pretty proud of the fact that I haven't let all the conjecture about my future affect my game too much. And if I keep playing well, then they will want us to stay anyway."
Ruben Wiki's plans next year also remain a mystery but the 35-year-old said all would be revealed once the Warriors' season was over. He has been linked with a move to join former Kiwis coach Brian McClennan at Leeds but is also said to be considering retirement.