The Wests Tigers have been urged to strike a deal for star winger Josh Addo-Carr by the end of the week or be forced to wait until after Melbourne's NRL season is over.
Despite having one more year left on his deal with the Storm, Addo-Carr is believed to be keen on a return to Sydney and has been heavily linked with his former club.
South Sydney are also understood to be in the running for his signature.
Melbourne remain determined to be compensated for granting the incumbent Australian and NSW State of Origin representative an early release, preferably through a player-swap.
After watching his winger grab two tries in their rout of the Tigers on Saturday, Storm coach Craig Bellamy put a timeframe on when he wants the saga to be completed.
"Obviously the Tigers want him under certain situations and we want something in return. That hasn't been settled yet," Bellamy said.
"If it doesn't get settled this week, we'll put it off until we finish our season.
"At the end of the day we don't want that distraction during the finals. If it doesn't get sorted this week, we'll leave it until the end of the season."
Tigers coach Michael Maguire said his team's defence was guilty of giving Addo-Carr too much space on the Sunshine Coast, where he gobbled up 155 metres with the ball in hand.
"When you give him a bit of space, he knows how to find it and he can really hurt you," he said.
"But the big one is, what's going on on the inside of your defensive line, allows space for those fast guys out on the edges. But he's a top quality player."
The Tigers have already added Penrith veteran James Tamou for next season, however the possible addition of Addo-Carr would give them some serious strike power on the edges.
"Just the consistency of high-level speed and his attributes of being able to return the ball," Maguire said.
"But at the end of the day we've got to work through a few things before we get to that. I'm sure that'll work itself out in time."
The loss to Melbourne dropped the Tigers to tenth spot ahead of their final-round clash against Parramatta at Bankwest Stadium on Saturday.
Australian Associated Press
