IN COMING months, most likely during the next bye in late June, the Sydney Swans will begin to address the most important on-field issue in the club's immediate future - the long-term intentions of coach Paul Roos.

With Roos having often spoken about the brief shelf life of the senior coach and having claimed he does not consider himself a "career coach", Swans chairman Richard Colless and general manager (football) Andrew Ireland will ask if the 44-year-old who took the reins halfway through the 2002 season intends to either leave, change roles, or continue as head coach when his contract expires at the end of next season - or perhaps even after this one.

Right now, Roos does not have a definitive answer. "As it sits now after round seven, I expect to be coaching next year," Roos says. "I'm definitely here to the end of this year. After that, at the moment, it's pure speculation. I don't have an answer to the question, but I don't fear the question being put to me. I'll be honest with them, they'll be honest with me."

One thing Roos has decided is that he will not sign a contract extension. If that fuels speculation he is preparing to walk away, Roos claims to be genuinely undecided about his future.

"I think people are reading it wrongly [if they think he will leave] because that hasn't even been discussed," he says. "It's something that will come up later in the season when we've all had more time to see where we stand."

Colless said the Swans board was not yet concerned about the future of the club's key employee.

"We'll have a chat about it before the end of the year but the contract situation is probably irrelevant because we virtually consider him to be working on a gentleman's agreement anyway," he says. "There are probably three options for Paul - stay as is, stay in a modified role, decide not to do it. But I haven't even begun to talk to him about that."

Although Roos has said he would always remain a "Swans person" and has ruled out leaving Sydney, the AFL's push into the western suburbs means there would be no shortage of potentially lucrative jobs for Roos in promotional or development roles, given his profile and articulate nature. As it is, Roos will weigh up a number of factors, including his motivation levels, the impact on his family and, importantly, the thoughts of his players before making any long-term decisions.

However, he says a tumultuous start to the season, during which he has endured an AFL match-fixing investigation, the fall-out from the Barry Hall haymaker and the interchange fiasco against North Melbourne, has not reduced his enthusiasm.

"You'd be lying if you said you don't say, 'Bloody hell, why do you bother'?" he says. "But those things last for 24 or 48 hours and then you move on. I'm really enjoying it at the moment with new kids coming in to the team and I've got a lot of respect for what's been built here."

If Colless admits to no immediate concern about Roos's future, the club is reaching a delicate stage as it prepares for life without veterans Leo Barry (31 this month), Brett Kirk (31), Barry Hall (31), Michael O'Loughlin (31) and Peter Everitt (33). "There are considerations," Colless says. "If it was August 2009 [and the coaching job had not been decided], we might be worried, but we're not there yet."

A move to the boundary line this season has prompted speculation that Roos had reached a "Kirribilli agreement" with assistant John Longmire and is preparing to hand over the reins. But, while he has strongly endorsed Longmire's ability to take the job, Roos said he had moved out of the box only to improve communications with his players.

Colless says the board is "not committed to any succession plan". "It [the coaching job] is not a decision that will be made by Paul, but a decision over which he will have a considerable degree of influence," he says.