Justin Holbrook has urged more Australian clubs to look to Super League for head coaches and insists he will help St Helens find his replacement after it was confirmed he will return home to join the NRL side Gold Coast Titans at the end of the season.

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Holbrook rejected a new long-term deal with the Super League leaders – whom he has transformed since arriving two years ago – in favour of a deal with the Titans to succeed Garth Brennan, who was sacked last month.

St Helens are once again expected to look to Australia for their next coach as they did with Holbrook and he insists it is a system which has proven benefits for everyone.

“For me it’s been fantastic,” he said. “If I’m a club in Australia, I would be thinking this is a definite pathway to explore. To come here out of my comfort zone and work as a head coach in Super League, that’s a much better pathway than staying put. It gives you all the things to prepare you to coach back there and being a head coach in Super League has given me the confidence to take it on at the Titans.”

Holbrook, who could still complete a domestic treble before leaving the Saints, also said he will be happy to work with the club and give advice about his successor. “Definitely,” he said. “I’ll help them wherever I can. The best thing about leaving now is knowing the club is in a great place. All the players outside of one, Adam Swift, are still here next year. That makes me feel better about leaving.”

The 43-year-old said he had a burning desire to return to Australia but that the timing of the opportunity to join the Titans dictated his decision. “I’ve always been happy here and I still am,” Holbrook said. “But the hard thing is that essentially, that’s when you have to leave; the opportunity generally comes around only because things are going so well.

“If you wait forever and decide it’s a good time in a couple of years, nobody may want you.” The St Helens chief executive, Mike Rush, is expected to head to Australia before the end of the season to speak to potential candidates. The former Wakefield player, Jason Demetriou, is among the early frontrunners to replace Holbrook.