There has been speculation some Bulldogs may look for a new home next season after Gunnedah’s committee this month replaced Hayne, who coached the side to a narrow grand final loss in 2018, with John Hickey.

Boggabri are in the midst of a concerted effort to bolster their roster after being elevated to first grade last season and finishing last.

When asked if he thought the Roos would secure some Gunnedah players, Kemp said: “To be honest, at this stage that’s way too early. I don’t know what’s happening with Gunnedah. We haven’t talked to anyone from Gunnedah. 

“We’ve got a sign-on day at the Railway Hotel in Gunnedah this Saturday – they’re one of our sponsors – and that is just to see if there is any interest from people from Gunnedah, I guess.

“But we’re not gonna go out of our way to go behind Gunnedah’s back and start trying to entice players.”

When asked what his gut feeling was regarding potential Gunnedah player departures, Kemp said “it’s a tough one”.

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He added: “Gunnedah’s making some decisions that, I guess, some people probably aren’t happy with, but I don’t know how that’s going to feed on, I honestly don’t.”

Kemp said “everyone” had been talking about the decision to remove Hayne.

At the conclusion of last season, Kemp announced that the Roos aimed to lure several talented players to the club for 2019 by getting them mining jobs. This week the club revealed they had signed Kahn Juhnke, a former top player in the Newcastle competition, by doing that.

However, the Roos have lost talented utility back Kialu Brown after one season at the club. Kemp thinks that Brown returned to Inverell.

At this stage, Kemp is confident of keeping 90 per cent of last season’s side.