TIM Sheens says he still has a burning desire to coach in the NRL but for now the dumped Wests Tigers mentor will devote all his attention to Australia and next year's World Cup.
Sheens was yesterday reappointed as national coach for a fifth term to spearhead the Kangaroos' campaign to wrest the World Cup off New Zealand for the end-of-season tournament in England and Wales.
It is the only coaching appointment the four-time premiership-winning coach has after he was sacked as Wests Tigers head coach at the end of last season before being replaced by Michael Potter.
The matter still remains unresolved. Sheens is considering his options after being offered a reduced role at the club for next season.
"I don't want to discuss club land at all," Sheens said yesterday. "This is about the Australian side for me, and what's happening in the rest of my life I'm not prepared to discuss at this stage.
"I'm coaching the Australian side for the year. That's what I'm doing.
"That's my main focus at the moment.
"We've got a Test match in Canberra for the Anzac Day Test which I'm looking forward to because it's the first time they've had a Test match down there.
"We've got the World Cup at the end of the year and I've obviously got the time to add more to the preparation so I'll be watching every player intently on a neutral basis."
Following the decision to move him on at Wests Tigers, Sheens was linked to the vacant coaching job at the Warriors before that was filled by former Penrith coach Matthew Elliott.
There has been recent speculation that Sheens will return to his former club Canberra and assist head coach David Furner in some capacity next season.
Sheens, 62, distanced himself from returning to the Raiders, but said he was still keen to coach.
"I've done it for a long time but my attitude at the moment is just to focus on the job at hand," he said.
"I am coaching at the moment and that's the Australian side.
It's a great job to have. I want to be successful at that and worry about other things later.
"(Canberra) was never happening. That's false.
"I was hoping to get the Australian side and they've now given it to me."
While Sheens ruled out Canberra as an option, Raiders chairman John McIntyre said Sheens would always be welcome to return to the nation's capital and assist Furner after guiding the club to three premierships in 1989, 1990 and 1994.
"At the end of the day, and apart from the head coach's role, he'd be most welcome back here," McIntyre said.
"He left Canberra after nine seasons and he's still pretty close to the club.
"When he came here (in 1988) he took over a team that had played in the grand final the year before and I said to him: 'The only way you can improve these guys is by wining one'. And in two years he did."
With no club commitments to worry about, Sheens said he was looking forward to next year's World Cup.
The Kangaroos will be out to avenge their shock loss to the Kiwis in the last tournament which was staged in Australia and New Zealand in 2008.
It could be the last time several of the Kangaroos' key players represent their country in a World Cup as captain Cameron Smith, 29, fullback Billy Slater, 29, halfback Cooper Cronk, 29, and five-eighth Johnathan Thurston, 29, will be entering the twilight stage of their careers.
"We've actually done a small succession plan for the next four years and quite a few of the current players are in that 30-ish mould," Sheens said.
"I'm not going to say at 34 you couldn't play again because Mal Meninga did it, but it's going to be an emerging four years for the next World Cup."
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