Young playmaker Jack Cole hopes to have more clarity around his future over the next month or two, with a move away from Penrith on the cards if a rival NRL club were to offer him something.

Cole, 22, is in his fourth season at the Panthers but is stuck behind Nathan Cleary, Blaize Talagi and Jack Cogger.

He’s off-contract at the end of the year and could be a very handy acquisition for another team, with Cole ruling out a possible move to the UK Super League at this stage of his career.

“I don’t know yet. It’s still early days, obviously being round five. Hopefully I get a bit more clarity maybe over the next month or two,” he told the NewsWire.

“Enjoying my footy and just focusing on my footy is going to help that cause. So I’m not really trying to worry about too much else really. Just trying to knuckle down and get better. And then obviously that will create more interest.

“I love it at Penrith and we’ll just see what happens. I’ve got to go where the best opportunity is, because at the end of the day, it is a business. So I’ve got to keep knuckling down, enjoying footy and whatever happens will happen.”

Cole has been at the club since he was 15 but understands that opportunities and financial security will dictate his next deal as he looks to go from understudy to leading man.

“I’m definitely very open-minded to it, as I’m sure everyone is. Like I said, it is a business and you’ve got to do what’s best for you,” he said.

“I love everything about Penrith. I love the boys, love the coaching staff, love what they’ve done for me as well.

“If there wasn’t an opportunity here for me at the end of the year to progress or play consistent NRL, then you’d obviously have to try to have a look.

“But me trying to play well is just going to help the cause of them wanting to keep me or getting interest from somewhere else. So it’ll come when it does.”

Cole has enjoyed a strong start to the season in NSW Cup after major shoulder surgery ate into the start of his pre-season.

Cleary and Talagi had their own reconstructions a couple of years ago, with Cole leaning on Nathan to help him with the mental side of things through on-field visualisation.

Cleary has also given him some advice on his diet, although Cole hasn’t followed all of his tips.

“Bone broth (was one of his big tips). He said he was trying the oysters there for a bit. I think that was a bit of a myth he said, but I wouldn’t have known how to do the oyster part,” he laughed.

“He told me to focus on the video and the mental side of the game. There are a lot of good things here we do about visualisation, which obviously if you can train your mind and visualise some stuff then it’s going to help you with the physical side when you’re back doing that stuff too.

“Most people close their eyes and just put yourself in scenarios. It’s more so about process instead of picturing big moments like matchwinning tries.

“It’s more just going through the motions of running your first set of the game, your first defensive set, getting back and off the line, communicating with people next to you. That’s probably the more effective way.

“I’m still learning how to stay in the moment when I’m doing it. Sometimes you can drift off a bit.

“If you ever get an interview with Nath, definitely ask him about it because he can put himself in first person, third person, and just sees it so clearly. So you can always get better at it.”

Cole hasn’t played first grade yet this season, but he’s ready to step up if required when Cleary is away with the Origin team.

“I think that’s a big part of Penrith where everyone’s got to be ready,” he said.

“It’s sort of a next man up mentality here, so we all train the same, we all have the same sequences, set plays.

“Our Cup team models our game off the NRL team, so I think that helps that when someone does get called up, you sort of just slot straight in and it definitely helps that.

“I’ll do what I did the last couple of years. If I get called up, I’ll be ready and just enjoy it and take it with both hands.”

Originally published as ‘I’ve got to go where the best opportunity is’: Jack Cole could leave Penrith at the end of the season