Canberra Raiders coach has dropped the biggest indication Jamal Fogarty will remain in the nation's capital yet, confirming negotiations are underway.

The halfback has a mutual option in his current deal for 2026, with his manager Tas Bartlett revealing to the media earlier in the year that the club would have to take their side of the option by Round 6.

If they don't, Fogarty could take up the player component of his deal for 2026 on a far reduced salary by a later point of the season.

It's an intriguing situation for Canberra, who have signed Ethan Sanders from the Parramatta Eels throughout the off-season.

He will start 2025 behind Fogarty in the halfback ranks, but it's believed the club view Sanders and young five-eighth Ethan Strange as the future of their halves, potentially leaving Fogarty on the outside looking in.

But that's not the way coach Ricky Stuart sees it, instead telling News Corp that the club are negotiating directly with the halfback, rather than through his management, and that Stuart wants Fogarty's legacy to be left on the young halves at the club.

"I said to him โ€˜Let's get the season going and then we'll sit down and have a chat'," Stuart told the publication.

"I've asked him as a senior player to bring through our young halves โ€“ Ethan Sanders and Ethan Strange. I said that's the one legacy I want you to leave at this club โ€“ to bring these boys through.

"Jamal's a really mature footballer and he understands how good these youngsters are but from an experience point of view we need him right now."

It's understood that if the club don't activate Fogarty's option by Round 6, he could head to the open market on his own, but negotiating would suggest the current deal could be scrapped in favour of a new one to run through at least the 2026 season.

Fogarty's manager has previously expressed, however, that the former Gold Coast Titans halfback, who is still an NRL starting level player, will make the best call for his career, and that could ultimately mean an exit from Canberra at the end of the current campaign.