Australia and Wests Tigers coach Tim Sheens has urged the NSW board to stick to its guns and avoid hiring an NRL coach as Ricky Stuart’s successor for the Blues’ top job.

NSWRL general manager Geoff Carr and chairman John Chalk are currently gauging the interest of every candidate who has been touted as a potential replacement for Stuart.

And on Thursday Carr took the step of admitting the board has not ruled out approaching club coaches – a position it had previously hoped to avoid given the findings of a report commissioned by the NSWRL and compiled by former Sydney Roosters chief executive Brian Canavan.

“Look, they commissioned a report which said (having someone coaching at NRL and State of Origin level) wasn’t the best option,” Sheens, who coached NSW in 1991, told reporters on Friday.

“Unless they want to go against their own report … And that was only two years ago.

“To me it’s about standing by what you thought was the best thing to do.

“But by the same token you’ve got to come up with the right man.”

And Sheens, who took on the Kangaroos coaching role in 2009 and coached NSW in the 1991 series, also said it was not essential to bring in an experienced coach to replace Stuart in the hope of ending Queensland’s seven-year State of Origin domination.

The favourites to take on the Blues coaching role in 2013 all have little to no coaching experience at an elite level.

Laurie Daley has held the Country Origin job since 2008 but has no NRL experience while Jim Dymock took control of Canterbury in a caretaker role at the back end of last season.

Brad Fittler had mixed success in his two and a bit seasons at the Roosters and another candidate, former Blues five-eighth Trent Barrett, has no experience in coaching other than being an assistant to Stuart the past two seasons.

But Sheens did not see their inexperience as a factor which would work against them getting the job – or against the Blues should they take on a young mentor.

“Ricky Stuart was a young coach, we’ve all been young coaches and got an opportunity,” Sheens added.

“To say that you need an experienced coach isn’t necessarily correct either.

“(Queensland coach) Mal Meninga wasn’t experienced at that level as a coach when he took over.

“There’s plenty of guys. The candidates that have been thrown up have all had experience at that level, as in playing, and I’m sure any one of those guys will do a good job.”