WORCESTER Warriors have put together a star-studded three-man shortlist for the position of attack coach in Dean Ryan’s new regime.

Former England World Cup-winning fly-half Paul Grayson, Queensland Reds attack guru Jim McKay and England Under 18s head coach John Fletcher are the trio that have been targeted by the Sixways powers-that-be.

Any one of the three are bound to excite Warriors fans as they all have impressive track records as backs coaches and it is understood Warriors will make their choice imminently.

Grayson, who left his post as Jim Mallinder’s right-hand man at Northampton in November after 19 years as player and coach at Franklin’s Gardens, is thought to be the front-runner at this stage.

McKay and Reds coach Ewen McKenzie have long been touted for the Australia national team job, but it is believed the former may have become impatient and is open to offers from England.

Fletcher, however, will also be well known to Warriors rugby operations director Corin Palmer and assistant coach Nigel Redman from his time working with the RFU national academy, a post he took up after presiding over Newcastle Falcons’ highly successful academy, bringing through players of the calibre of Toby Flood, Mathew Tait and Geoff Parling.

Whichever one of the trio Worcester decided to appoint, it will be on a full-time basis, which can only benefit a side whose attacking strategy this season has been provided on a monthly consultancy basis by Mathieu Rourre, who has jetted in from his role with Biarritz to help out at Sixways.

Grayson became joint-Saints boss in November 2004 and helped the club away from relegation on the last day of the season.

After taking sole charge, he went on to lead the team to the Heineken Cup semi-finals three years later.

However, the 41-year-old was then demoted to backs coach at the end of the 2006-07 campaign following relegation to the second tier.

McKay has been credited with playing a major role in turning around the Queensland Reds’ on-field fortunes, including winning the Super Rugby title in 2011 and also a second consecutive Australian Conference trophy in 2012.

Head-hunted from the Leicester Tigers academy by then incoming coach McKenzie in 2010, McKay has lived up to his reputation for having one of the best attacking minds in the game since joining the Reds and has played a major role in shaping their highly-acclaimed attacking structure of play.

Under McKay, who is a qualified level four RFU coach, the Reds have twice broken Queensland’s Super Rugby try-scoring record for a single season.

McKay also spent four years as head coach of Cornish Pirates, which included winning the National Powergen Cup at Twickenham.