Former St Helens coach Nathan Brown is to leave his job at Newcastle Knights at the end of the season but is unlikely to return to his old club.

Saints, currently preparing for Saturday's Challenge Cup final, have begun the search for a successor to head coach Justin Holbrook for 2020 but chief executive Mike Rush says no contact was made with Brown during his recent visit to Australia.

"We've done our interviews and Browny wasn't one of them," said Rush. "At the time I was over there, Nathan was in a job."

Holbrook will see out the rest of his contract with treble-chasing St Helens before joining Gold Coast Titans at the end of the season.

Rush says there is no timescale and the club will not rush to make an appointment.

"As long as the person who's getting the job knows, there's no need to talk about it during the season," he said.

"We'll make the announcement when the time is right for us. That could be the end of the season or, if we think there's a need to do it sooner, we'll do it sooner.

"But we're not being driven by a time frame. We have our own way of doing things.

We're ongoing with what we need to do. People expect confidentiality."

Saints are expected to opt for another Australian following the success of Holbrook and are being linked with NRL assistant coaches Kristian Wolf, Adam O'Brien, Jason Ryles, Todd Payten, Craig Hodges and David Fairleigh.

Brown, 46, began his coaching career at St George Illawarra before moving to Super League in 2009.

He had four years at Huddersfield and was in charge of Saints for two seasons, culminating in their 2014 Grand Final win over Wigan.