However, chairman Don Matheson has denied the club is locked in talks with Chipperfield and stressed that contractually he is out of bounds until January 1.

The Fury chief told au.fourfourtwo.com today: "There's been a bit of speculation about Scott and he's an outstanding player. We would like to talk to him but a lot of the reports are fairly speculative at the moment.

"We are not talking to Scott."

Matheson said he hoped Chipperfield would find the prospect of life at North Queensland appealing should he choose to head back to Australia from his current Swiss base but added: "We wouldn't be able to compete with an overseas club."

Whether Chipperfield eventually becomes a Fury player or not, Matheson is keeping his fingers crossed that a lot of hard negotiating behind the scenes will shortly pay off for the A-League new boys.

He said: "Negotiations are progressing well on a couple of fronts and I'm hoping we're pretty close to announcing a couple of key signings."

He's giving away no names at this stage but Matheson admits the recruiting process is helped along by each quality signing unveiled.

"I think that quality players attract quality players," said Matheson.

Fury have already captured Jade North, Robbie Middleby, Brendon Santalab, Jacob Timpano, Jeremy Brockie, Paul Kohler and Ufuk Talay.

Away from the glare of the media, Matheson is delighted with the club set up and says everything is slotting into place.

And far from being given the cold shoulder by rival clubs, he has hailed the support and advice being offered by other A-League clubs.

He said: "I think it's a breath of fresh air."