The Canterbury Bulldogs have appointed Dean Pay as coach of the NRL club, replacing Des Hasler who was sacked last week.

The reports come 10 years after Pay coached Dubbo CYMS to the Group 11 title in 2007.

There has bee a huge amount of speculation around the Bulldogs top job since Hasler departed but the club has moved quickly after interviewing Pay for the role at Belmore on Tuesday.

Pay, who also represented NSW and Australia during his playing career, ran out for the Bulldogs on 108 occasion between 1989 and 1995.

His appointment as Bulldogs coach comes after the club’s chairman Ray Dib's pledged to fans to bring back a former player to helm the club.

"Above all, we want to bring back the Bulldogs' spirit of old," Dib wrote to Bulldogs fans.

"Part of that process will be the re-engagement of past players and reconnecting with our traditions and history."

Pay stated last week he had “done a pretty big apprenticeship, if I'm not ready now I never will be”.

Following his playing career, which included a grand final win in 2005, he moved back out west for a number of years and coached CYMS to 2007 title before taking his coaching career further.

In 2008, as well as coaching CYMS, he assisted Ricky Stuart with the NSW Country side.

Pay and Stuart were close friends and that continued, with Pay acting as his assistant at the Canberra Raiders up until the Bulldogs job became available.

Prior to his time with Stuart he was named as Kevin Walters’ assistant at Catalans in the Super League and after a short spell there he returned to Australia when named as under-20s coach at the Melbourne Storm.

That was followed by a spell under Stuart in his ill-fated time in charge of Parramatta before the pair made the move the nation’s capital.

Pay will be tasked with lifting the Bulldogs back into premiership contention next year after missing the finals for the first time in six seasons this year.

The 360 points they scored was 50 points less than the next best club.

The 48-year-old publicly declared his interest in the role not long after Hasler was shown the door, saying the Bulldogs had a unique culture.

"The people that have played there in the past really appreciate the club. It all set up there right from the beginning with (Peter Moore) and (Barry) Nelson," he recently told Fairfax.

"I spent a lot of time there. At the end of the day it's a club that's close to my heart. If the opportunity comes up, I'd certainly have a discussion about it, that's for sure."

Big-named signings Aaron Woods and Kieran Foran are also expected to bring immediate change, despite the loss of captain James Graham and five-eighth Josh Reynolds.

An official statement from the Bulldogs is yet to be made with an announcement expected on Friday.