Jason Demetriou will get more time to turn South Sydney around with Bunnies bosses set to give the coach a stay of execution.
The news, reported by Newscorp, comes as Mal Meninga, who had been lined up as a replacement, distanced himself from the job live on Fox League.
Souths have the bye this weekend, usually an ideal time to ditch a coach, followed by two of the toughest asks in rugby league with a trip to Melbourne and a visit from the Panthers.
“Jason will be given the time he needs,” said CEO Blake Solly in the Daily Telegraph.
“The club’s only desire is to see JD succeed. You can show enough in a loss for everyone to be positive about the performance.
“I think the performance showed that with plenty of room for further improvement in coming weeks. If we continue to grow in confidence, determination to win and stability – Jason will be given the time he needs.”
The Bunnies are 1-5 at the bottom of the ladder, which might realistically become 1-7 before long given the arduous fixture list.
They lost to Cronulla on Saturday night but were defiant in the wake of a massive injury crisis that saw three starters depart before halftime and the Bunnies play the entire second stanza with just one man on the bench.
The word from the higher-ups had been that they wanted to see a performance, and amid massive adversity, they got one.
Senior players, Tom Burgess and Cody Walker in particular, were excellent with their backs against the wall in the second half. It was not the performance of a team that had lost faith in their coach.
In the post-match press conference, Demetriou was defiant, telling journalists that he expected to be in post for the coming games.
“I expect so,” he said when asked if he would take the team to Melbourne.
“Nobody’s told me otherwise, so we’ll review the game turn up, if not, we’ll find out,” he said after the loss to the Sharks.
“It’s not ideal, don’t get me wrong, you don’t want to be going through this but the reality is it’s elite sport. We’re a huge club.”
The performance in defeat to Cronulla certainly strengthened Demetriou’s hand, but it can’t be discounted that the man who had been lined up as an interim boss all but turned the position down live on Fox League earlier in the day.
Meninga likely faces a choice between his current gig as coach of the Kangaroos and a club position, with the NRL unlikely to sanction a dual role.
“My Kangaroo duties is foremost in my mind,” he said
“I want to complete, I want to go to a third World Cup and the game’s given me the privilege to do that. I want to be a part of all that.
Did Australian coach Mal Meninga underestimate the Kiwis? (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)
“If it’s going to impede or prevent me from coaching the Australian side at the end of the year then it’s probably a big fat no from me.”
He also mentioned the public floating of his name without an official approach as a reason not to take the job.
“I haven’t been approached and all of a sudden my name’s been associated with the story,” said Meninga.
“To me that sends some poor signals from somewhere — is it the board?
“I’ve gone underground with all of this because obviously my name is associated with it. Has anyone else from the club spoken about it at all? Again that’s a red flag for me as well.
“If no one is willing to step up and talk on behalf of the club and tell exactly what’s happening, that to me is a sign that you maybe shouldn’t get involved with that club.”
Choppy Zezers
Roar Rookie
Oh come on now that just wasn't called for.
andrew
Roar Rookie
Milne must take the same angry pills as Walker. What is it with those angry ants at the Rabbitohs.
Worlds Biggest
Roar Pro
Agree Steven, whilst JD has rightly copped a lot of flak, why isn’t the Chairman, Board and CEO also in the firing line ?? They have presided over this complete mess and didn’t listen to Sam allowing him to leave early. Not only does the roster need a clean out, so does the front office. The same Front Office that let Reyno leave for some unbeknown policy about not signing older players to long term deals. That was criminal letting him go and still stings today.
Redcap
Roar Guru
Well, between the Titans gig, the couch at Murdoch Towers and the national team gig during COVID years, I reckon he's been in holiday mode for some years.
Glory Bound
Roar Rookie
They have the roster. They have a top 4 roster. They don't have the depth. That is the problem. Especially halves and forwards, both edge and middles. Milne, Kennar and Thompson have to get punted.
Slammin_Sam
Roar Rookie
The interpretation of all this is: " nobody else will coach this rabble so he's safe till someone says yes..." Reasonably embarrassing but they've been working towards this for a while.....
steveng
Roar Rookie
yes GB fully agree and as i've said they don't have the roster and/or the coach and coaches to get this side going, ever since Sam Burgess left it seems that the wheels have fallen off and everything has collapsed. Lets just see what happens in 2024 and 2025 as I don't have much faith in the mob that is managing and/or coaching this side, Souths need a compete clen out from the coaches to the chief executive Blake Solly to the chairman Nick Pappas as they have been asleep at the wheel, and this is the result of their stuff ups!
Glory Bound
Roar Rookie
You can have him for free and he would still be overpriced! :laughing:
Glory Bound
Roar Rookie
Mate, JD is utterly clueless. Remember after last years nightmare finish to the season when Souths went from 1st on the NRL ladder after 11 rounds to missing the finals for the first time in 6 years. Demetriou promised he would do a full review of the Rabbitohs season and would fix the problem. Does it looks like he has a clue about how to fix the problem with Souths last on the NRL Ladder with only 1 win from 6 games? Souths are in free fall and when Latrell returns and Souths are still last on the ladder with 1 win from 8 games what then? Close to half the season will already be over and the Bunnies will have missed the finals boat!
Tony
Roar Guru
We'll be able to afford him whe Lomax goes :happy:
Glory Bound
Roar Rookie
Do you want him back, Tony?
matth
Roar Guru
Yep, there was big one from Reece Walsh on Friday that went unpunished.
Worlds Biggest
Roar Pro
Big Mal didn’t cover himself in glory with some of his comments. Clearly the media were drumming up this story and he should have played the straight bat and made minimal if any comments at all. Instead he got involved when he should have shut it down as soon as the story came out.
Good Grief
Roar Rookie
I guess they are keeping him on because they are not ready to write of the season just because the rugby league media it trying to fabricate another hysterical panic.
Good Grief
Roar Rookie
The entire episode sounds like another media fantasy. Surely the story is (as big Mal states) that the media had him linked to the role when no one from Souths had even approached him. Isn’t this a classic case of unsubstantiated, pluck it out of your arse media speculation having its pants pulled down publicly? Mal says “I haven’t been approached”, so naturally the hyperventilating media ignores what Mal actually says and kicks into hysterical speculation at the prospect of death riding another coach. They couldn’t continue targeting Benji or Ciraldo after their team achieved a couple of early wins, and Mitchell opened the door for unrestrained speculation about Souths… so it’s knives out for JT as the next man up. Don’t fall for it Souths. Stuck together and show these pathetic, worthless media goons that they are full of shlt.
Tony
Roar Guru
Milne?
Tony
Roar Guru
More likely to emulate the Knights of 2015, 2016 and 2017. :happy:
Gorabbits
Roar Rookie
Keeping Jason demetriou is done as coach whether souths say goodbye now or sometime later this season. Based on the performance last night against a pretty ordinary Cronulla sharks, the rabbitohs are likely to get their arses smacked big time by storm and penrith in the coming weeks. That'll be the season by then. Demetriou won't survive that. It's just a question of when the axe falls. And here's another question to add to the mix of what is going wrong with souths and it's to do with cody walker. The rabbits needed walker to stand up big time last night as the leader of the team and what did we get?? He ran the ball just 3 times in the entire match!! That's not what you would get from a committed, dedicated senior player at most other clubs in the nrl. But that is what walker dished up. To me it shows the problems at souths go deep and don't just rest with getting rid of demetriou
Choppy Zezers
Roar Rookie
Player, not players
steveng
Roar Rookie
Ok so JD is going to stay, but the biggest problem that Souths have for the coming rounds is the roster, yes, they have some players that can make some sort of a difference, but they still won't get this side into the 8. Yes, players like Graham and AJ are crucial to this side but they will not be back until when? Then we have Arrow who is back supposedly by R8, but he is not enough to make a big difference as we only have Tom Burgess and Cam Murray that really have a go, as LM and CW are not the answer, then we have Keaon Koloamatangi who has dropped right off and done nothing, then add the rest of them and what does Souths have? JD must have had a plan for 2024 or since R11 2023 WHAT IS IT JD as it aint working :laughing: ???