CRONULLA Sharks assistant Steve Price has emerged as the strong favourite to fill Tony Smith’s position at Warrington Wolves, according to bookmakers Betfred.

Price, the former head coach of St George Illawarra Dragons, is now the 7/4 favourite with the Birchwood-based bookmaker to be the next Wire boss.

Wolves chief executive Karl Fitzpatrick returned from Australia, where he has been meeting potential candidates, on Tuesday.

Former Wigan and South Sydney head coach Michael Maguire and ex-Bradford coach Geoff Toovey had initially been joint favourites, but Maguire is now 2/1 second-favourite while Toovey has drifted to 9/2.

Two more NRL assistants in Garth Brennan (3/1) and Dean Pay (6/1) feature highly, while recently-departed Canterbury Bulldogs coach Des Hasler (8/1) is a new face in the betting along with ex-Wigan man David Furner and Penrith Panthers head coach Anthony Griffin (both 12/1) and former Wire player Andrew Johns (25/1).

Full list of odds, courtesy of Betfred:

7/4 - Steve Price

2/1 - Michael Maguire

3/1 - Garth Brennan

9/2 - Geoff Toovey

6/1 - Dean Pay

8/1 - Des Hasler

12/1 - David Furner, Anthony Griffin

16/1 - Justin Morgan, Adam O'Brien

20/1 - Jason Demetriou

25/1 - Andrew Johns

33/1 - Laurie Daley

50/1 - Daryl Powell, Michael Monaghan

100/1 - Richard Agar, Lee Briers