Jason Demetriou expects to be coaching South Sydney against the Storm after the bye despite his side’s 34-22 loss to the Sharks seeing them anchored to the bottom of the table.
Demetriou’s side was brave in defeat and in a classy touch he sent his and the clubs thoughts and prayers to the victims of the terror attack at Bondi Junction.
“First I just want to pass on our thoughts and prayers from everyone at the Rabbitohs for the events that went on at Bondi Junction today,” Demetriou said.
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“It’s pretty sad to hear the things that are coming out of there and everyone in the Rabbitohs family, the players, staff, members, everybody, just sending their prayers.”
Despite slipping to their fifth loss from six games, Demetriou could not have been prouder of his players.
“Pretty proud, to be honest,” Demetriou said.
“I spoke about it last week about valuing the 80 minutes to make it the most important part of our week and I think there was a fair bit of carnage out there and we had one interchange for over half a game and lost a winger and a fullback for 15 minutes and to drag ourselves to 28-22.
“We maintain that fight, we win a lot more games than we lose that for sure.”
Demetriou said he had no indication from the club his job was on the line.
“I expect so yeah, nobody’s told me otherwise, so we’ll review the game turn up, if not, we’ll find out,” Demetriou said when asked if he will be the coach next game.
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Demetriou opened up on the tumultuous week that has engulfed the club surrounding the conjecture on his own future as head coach.
“Not really,” Demetriou said when asked if the conjecture has affected him.
“You know, 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.
“I’m disappointed for our members and our supporters to hear some of the things that just aren’t accurate, but I understand why the noise is there.
“It’s results driven and we’re not getting the results. More importantly, we just probably lack times where we’re showing that fight that we’re known for and I thought we showed that today.
“So like I said, I’m walking out of here really proud of my team. We’re proud of the fight they put in.
“It was Jai Gray’s debut as well. I thought he showed everybody out there today that he’s a kid of the future as well.
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“Not only just to play the way he did but to handle the head knock and to come back on and to play in a game where the carnage is what it is. It showed his maturity as well.”
Demetriou revealed he will give his players some time off during the bye before returning to try and turn the club around.
“For the team we have got a few days off, which should be good for the boys to get away,” Demetriou said.
“You know, relax a little bit and look at some things that we need to be better at.
“We leaked three or four tries from kicks today. One of them was off a break where they kicked in behind and Jack was in the line but other than that, we have got to deal with that stuff.
“The tryline defence was brave tonight. We showed a lot of resilience and a lot of heart and some good process stuff as well.
“But at the end of the day we leaked four tries from kicks, so we’ve got to address that. But yeah, well, business as usual for us.
“We’ll rest up and then we’ll get some good training in the bye week and then get ready for Melbourne.”
A stoic Demetriou refused to lower his head despite the tough week for him personally.
“For me, it’s my job,” Demetriou said.
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“I’ll review the game like I always do. I’ll enjoy spending some time with my wife and my girls tomorrow. I think that’s important. You know, they ride this roller coaster as much as anybody does.
“But I won’t walk around with my head down. I’ve got no reason to. I’ve worked my backside off to get into this position as the head coach of one of the biggest rugby league clubs in the world.
“I’m really proud that I get to represent these boys, our fans, our members, our staff. And I’m excited about turning it around. If that changes well time will tell.”
Demetriou explained why he walked out on a press conference after 27 seconds on Friday.
“Yeah, actually, being quite honest, I’ve been like that all week,” Demetriou said of a more positive attitude on game day.
“I think probably Cody (Walker) is probably the best one to ask for that.
“But, you know, I’m walking out and doing a press conference with the noise that’s going on and the things that have been said and done and whatever.
“Like there’s no real point me standing there answering questions about it because it doesn’t serve any purpose for the players and serve any purpose for me.
“So I said what I needed to say and I walked and I ended the interview. It wasn’t the shortest interview ever.
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“I mean, Wayne’s done one shorter, Ricky has as well. So a bit to work on.
But yeah, I mean, I’m more than happy to front it here and have those questions asked and I’m happy to answer them.”
Demetriou was pressed on whether he saw his players show fight for the jersey and himself and the club against the Sharks.
“What do you think?” Demetriou said.
“I’ve already said that. I’m extremely proud of them. We had nearly four million dollars sat on the sideline from our cap.
“We lose three players that can’t get back on the field. We lose a fullback for 15 minutes. We lose a winger and we’ve got one interchange for over 40 minutes.
“And they keep turning up, turning up and turning up. And we’re 28-22 with four, five minutes to go and we’re right in the fight, so I can’t be prouder of the boys.
“As a coach, what you want them to do is turn up and fight for each other and fight for their jersey and show what the club means to them and I think we saw that tonight.”
Souths experienced some injury carnage against the Sharks, with Demetriou revealing Tyrone Munro and Tevita Tatola could be sidelined for lengthy spells.
“I think Cameron Murray is a minor head knock, so with the bye week, he should be sweet for the 11 day protocol,” Demetriou said.
“Junior Tatola thinks he might have a break in his foot. He will have to get X-rays and go from there.
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“Tyrone is a collarbone, so he’ll have to get an X-ray to see if he’s injured that collarbone again.”
Demetriou refused to answer questions on his future in a brief 27-second press conference earlier in the week on Friday as rumours swirled that Saturday’s game would be his last in charge.
In fact, foxsports.com.aureported that South Sydney’s board had this week been presented with a shortlist of possible candidates including Michael Maguire and Ben Hornby, while Mal Meninga had firmed as a leading option to take over for the remainder of the season.
Meninga maintained on Saturday that while the job “does appeal to him” he has had “no official approach” from the Rabbitohs about stepping in as interim coach.
He also suggested there were a few reasons to be hesitant about taking on the role, starting with his Kangaroos duties and also extending to a “red flag” with the way South Sydney has handled the drama.
“I haven’t been approached and all of a sudden my name’s been associated with the story. To me that sends some poor signals from somewhere — is it the board?” Meninga said on Fox League.
“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.”
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