South Sydney Rabbitohs defend decision to sack Jason Demetriou as NRL coach

South Sydney eminent government Blake Solly says the membership has disagree regrets over sacking Jason Demetriou as head mentor. 

The last-placed Rabbitohs fired Demetriou on Tuesday evening at the again of a failed 2023 marketing campaign and a 1-6 win-loss document thus far this season.

The board met from 8am on Tuesday to listen to Demetriou tone for his process, sooner than reconvening within the night and unanimously deciding to end his word of honour.

Having been subsidized to stay mentor then a gallant round-six loss to Cronulla, Demetriou used to be assured in his skill to encourage the Rabbitohs out in their hunch.

However membership powerbrokers had been satisfied another way by way of the 54-20 thrashing the Rabbitohs had been passed by way of Melbourne Hurricane on Anzac Week.

“Unfortunately, we didn’t think that Jason’s coaching style would be able to get the change that we needed or the improvement we needed,” Solly mentioned.

“Given that we sit 17th on the table and our for-and-against is 50 points worse than 16th, now was the time to make the change.”

Solly mentioned Demetriou treated his sacking with dignity.

“There were no blow-ups, there was no anger, [Demetriou] deals with that sort of adversity very well. It’s a credit to him,” Solly mentioned.

Solly addressed the Rabbitohs’ enjoying workforce on Wednesday morning, having knowledgeable them of the verdict to sack Demetriou by the use of textual content message the former evening.

He mentioned he didn’t consider Demetriou had misplaced the dressing room, however mentioned the mentor used to be not ready to get the most efficient out of his gamers.

“I want to say that Jason is an incredibly hard-working coach,” Solly mentioned.

“But in our view we just felt that the style of play and probably Jason’s management of the players needed to change.

“I’m speaking about the entire of the squad and making sure that each participant within the squad can carry out at their best possible.”

The Rabbitohs had announced a contract extension for Demetriou last October that tied him to the club through 2026, although a clause in that deal entitled him to only nine months’ wages as his payout.

Solly defended the new contract, and the decision to fire Demetriou after the Storm loss, despite backing him a fortnight earlier.

“Our view used to be that one recreation [against Melbourne] used to be indicative of an incapacity to show it round,” Solly mentioned.

“We felt [the contract extension] used to be impressive for the reason that we had been a premiership ultimatum and we felt we had a marketing campaign and a squad to expectantly walk and win that premiership.

“We gave Jason what we felt he deserved.”

Top Minister Anthony Albanese, a Rabbitohs supporter, paid tribute to Demetriou, describing him as a “decent man”.

“He put in an extraordinary effort as coach,” he mentioned.

“It would have been a tough day for hm yesterday but I wish him all the very best.”

Ben Hornby, who used to be an colleague to Demetriou, will grant as period in-between head mentor for the rest of the season.

Dolphins mentor Wayne Bennett has been related with a go back to the Rabbitohs as an enduring alternative for Demetriou.

Bennett coached the Rabbitohs from 2019 to 2021, guiding the membership to the lavish ultimate in his final season in fee.

Demetriou, who used to be an colleague mentor underneath Bennett, took over please see season and led the Rabbitohs to a initial ultimate look in 2022.

Upcoming a promising get started in 2023, the Rabbitohs capitulated in the second one part of the season to complete 9th with a 12-12 win-loss go back.

AAP/ABC