- The Souths made the decision to fire the coach mid-season last week.
- Reportedly in talks with Wayne Bennett to return to Redfern
- Demetriou has broken his silence on the sacking and his future in the NRL
The fire still burns in Jason Demetriou and the fired South Sydney Rabbitohs coach has broken his silence to declare his desire to coach in the NRL has never been stronger.
Souths finally pulled the mentor trigger after two board meetings last week following the Rabbitohs’ shocking start to the season with 1 win and 6 losses that has the proud club anchored at the bottom of the NRL ladder.
This comes after Souths led the competition in 2023 only to fade out and miss the final entirely.
It’s been an extremely difficult time for Demetriou, who worked as an apprentice with Bennett at the Brisbane Broncos and Souths before getting his chance at a first grade gig.
The ax has fallen on embattled Souths coach Jason Demetriou after two board meetings held last week.
The mentor went through the training as usual before being told that his contract was terminated.
It has not been widely reported that former South Sydney coach Wayne Bennett will return to the club to replace Demetriou.
But Demetriou, who now works as a commentator and analyst for radio station Triple M, said the lessons learned had only made him hungrier to train at the highest level.
“My ambition to coach in the NRL hasn’t diminished at all,” Demetriou said.
‘In fact, I know I will be a better coach for having experienced this challenge.
‘I love the game, I love giving back to the game and I have no hard feelings towards South Sydney.
“In recent days I have been able to reflect on many things that I am proud of as a coach and the other side of the coin is that there are many learnings that I take away from difficult moments.
“What I’m not going to do is sit still, I’m going to continue learning, I’m going to be watching every game, breaking trends both technically and tactically. I’m sure that when the next opportunity presents itself, I’ll be ready to start working.”
Souths have struggled since midway through the 2023 NRL season, falling out of final contention and starting 2024 off to a horrendous 1 win, 6 loss start under Demetriou.
Demetriou said his time at Souths had made him stronger and he wants to return as an NRL coach in the future.
One of the biggest clichés in rugby league is the club saying the coach has “lost the dressing room” after his sacking. South Sydney hasn’t deployed that line, Demetriou.
He handled the enormous pressure cooker environment of the last 12 months with grace and has maintained the same composure now that the ax has fallen.
Now, talking to news corporationhe was not interested in taking shots at the club that had given him so much, including his former mentor and likely successor Bennett.
“History shows that it is not easy to replace Wayne and I know that many people have spoken since the decision was made against me about the challenge of being the successor coach after Wayne,” Demetriou said.
‘That first season (2022) not only did we lose Wayne, we lost Adam Reynolds, Dane Gagai and Jaydn Su’a, but we were strong enough to build throughout our season to reach a preliminary final.
“I’m proud of that and equally proud of the playing group that year.
“Few coaches have the opportunity to learn to navigate through internal and external influences at such a big club and that will make me a stronger coach.”