Penrith second-rower Lewis Brown fears the salary cap squeeze could force him out of the NRL club he doesn't want to leave.
The 28-year-old former Warrior admitted other teams have already enquired about his services when his current deal expires at the end of the season.
On the same day Panthers general manager Phil Gould expressed hope injured centre Jamal Idris would also fulfil the rest of his three-year contract, Brown re-iterated a desire to remain at the foot of the mountains.
St George Illawarra forward Trent Merrin announced in March he will move to the Panthers next season on a three-year deal reportedly worth $750,000 a season.
"Hopefully we can work something out. Obviously salary cap's a bit of an issue here," Brown told AAP.
"There's a few other clubs that have shown interest. Over the next month hopefully I can work out what I'm doing.
"At the end of the day I've got to do what's right on the field. I'm a team man and the team comes first."
Brown ruled out a return to the Warriors, and has recently been linked with a move to the Wests Tigers. The former Kiwis representative said he wanted to make a decision on his future within the month.
"Christchurch is home for me, but Auckland, I'll probably move there after I finish my footy career," he said
"I obviously started my career at the Warriors and it would've been nice if I could go back there.
"But obviously my priorities lay here at Penrith.
"I first and foremost want to stay here, but sometimes that doesn't happen within the comp. They've got a lot of young juniors coming through here, especially in the back row."
Gould said the club was still waiting on a decision from Idris on whether he wanted to return to the side when he recovers from his knee injury.
"The prognosis on that is excellent but Jamal needs to decide what he wants to do for his future," Gould said.
"At this point our priority is Jamal's happiness and his health and it's completely in his court what he wants to do in his career, whether it be in rugby league or something else down the track.
"He is still in a cast and recovering from his knee injury - Jamal will make his mind up in good time because he has a lot of things to think about."
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