I can't tell from the photos how the boat is sailed, facing forward or in
the more usual fashion sitting on one side or the other depending on the
tack and facing midships. In the latter case you want the tiller out of
the way when changing tacks.

If you don't want or can't have a tiller at the rudder head in thge normal
fashion there are a couple of other arrangements in addition to what you
mentioned.

One is to pivot a tiller on a bolt through the aft deck with lines back to
the rudder. You could put an extention on the tiller in the usual way.
With a bit of immagination and addtional weight you could substitute
wooden battens for the lines.

Another arrangement is a vertical tiller, simmilar to the joy stick on an
airplane, sometiem called a "whip staff" or a "whip stick". It can pivot
on a bolt through the coaming at the front or the back of the cockpit. On
power boats it often pivots on one gunnel or the other depending on where
the boat driver sits. TF Jones shows the arrangement of pulleys for one of
these on a long narrow outboard motorboat.

Then again there is a steering oar. I use one on the small boats I sail facing
forward. Most of the time the steering oar or paddle on my boats is not
used as I sail the boat by balance, like wind surfing or riding a bicycle.
I put the oar in the water only when I have to. Unlike a rudder you do not
need to be moving to make the boat turn.

Its also possible to laminate a steering wheel out of layers of plywood
and mount one on the front, back, or side(s) of the cockpit. You can make
cutouts so it looks like a spoked wheel. TF Jones shows a nicely finished
laminated plywood steering wheel on one of the small motor cruisers he
built for a customer.

Some kinds of rope stretch more than others under different conditions.
What you see on outboard motor steering systems is wire rope, plastic
coated if I remember, like the stuff on clothes lines.

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