Former South Sydney Rabbitohs coach Jason Demetriou has broken his silence on the exit from his club for the first time since he was sacked as head coach last week.
Taking over the coaching reins from Wayne Bennett, Demetriou was axed less than 12 months after garnering a contract extension with the club.
This came about after he failed to make the 2023 NRL Finals series and their poor start to this season, which has seen them fall to the bottom of the table.
The three-season coaching career of the axed coach saw him end up with a 50 per cent win rate with exactly 29 wins and 29 losses in 58 first-grade games.
He will now be replaced by assistant Ben Hornby on an interim basis while supercoach and former mentor Wayne Bennett has emerged as the frontrunner to coach the Rabbitohs in the 2025 season.
As he gets ready to work on a new job at Triple M on Thursday as part of the expert commentary team, Jason Demetriou has broken his silence on his exit from Heffron.
In his first interview, he would discuss the challenges of taking over from Wayne Bennett and would provide a hint at his future as an NRL coach.
“History shows it's not easy taking over from Wayne and I know a lot of people have spoken since the decision was made against me about the challenge of being the succession coach after Wayne,” Demetriou told The Daily Telegraph.
“That first season (2022) we not only lost Wayne, we lost Adam Reynolds, Dane Gagai and Jaydn Su'a, but we were strong enough to build through our season to make a preliminary final.
“I'm proud of that and equally proud of the playing group that year.''
A former assistant coach at the Brisbane Broncos, North Queensland Cowboys and St George Illawarra Dragons, Demetriou has insisted that his coaching career in the NRL is far from over.
Instead, he is looking forward to his next opportunity in the NRL arena and believes that he will only be stronger after guiding a historic club like the South Sydney Rabbitohs.
Passing on his best wishes to interim coach Ben Hornby during the interview, Demetriou will be with Triple M for the remainder of the season and there have been no rumours linking him to another coaching job at this stage.
“My ambition to coach in the NRL hasn't waned at all. In fact, I know I'll be a better coach for having experienced this challenge," he added.
“I love the game, I love giving back to the game and I don't hold a bitterness towards South Sydney.
“In these last few days I've been able to reflect on so many things I'm proud of as a coach and the other side of that is that there are so many learnings that I take away from the tough times.
“What I'm not going to do is sit still, I'm going to keep learning, I'm going to be watching every game, breaking down the trends both technically and tactically. I'm sure when the next opportunity comes along, I'll be ready to hit the ground running.”
