Souths coach in eye-opening admission as besieged NRL club hits historic low

Although he has taken responsibility for his team’s unprecedented late-season

collapse, Souths coach Jason Demetriou says he’s “disaapointed” by the chaos that

has overtaken the organization. The Rabbitohs were the first team in NRL

history to lead the tournament after 11 rounds but lose in the playoffs after

falling to their bitter rivals, the Sydney Roosters, 26–12.

 

Although Demetriou’s team was one of the favorites to win the premiership in the first part of the season, they have

only won four of their last 13 games, eliminating them from the running for

the championship. Amazingly, the Bunnies’ setback on Friday night in their

pivotal final round matchup with the Roosters was only the second time this

season that they had finished outside the top eight.

Their record surrender completes a terrible few weeks for the team that included the unexpected departure of assistant coach Sam Burgess and the Latrell Mitchell scandal. The league world was startled and incensed when superstar fullback Rodney Churchill, the son of Rabbitohs icon Clive, called the player a “cancer” on the team.

 

The complex Burgess story also revolved around Mitchell. It has been reported that the legendary player quit his position as assistant coach with two weeks left in the regular season, citing dissatisfaction over what he saw as the team’s preferential treatment of the

fullback and Cody Walker. Burgess is known to have left after standing by his

claims that the club’s standards were not up to par ought to be.

Rabbitohs coach says blame rests with him

Compounding matters for the Bunnies leading into Friday night’s must-win

game was the suspension to Mitchell for a needless elbow to the head of Newcastle’s Tyson Frizell in the club’s

previous game. Speaking after the loss to the Roosters, Demetriou accepted that

the off-field controversies were a “small part” of what went wrong for his side but

said the blame for missing out on the finals ultimately rested with him.

“We’re a pretty tight ship, we work our things out together and inside the four walls so it’s disappointing that things are

getting out,” Demetriou stated. It’s a minor component of numerous minor

elements that have contributed to our current situation.

“It will undoubtedly be included in a thorough review. I have to raise my

hands. As the head coach, it is my responsibility to ensure that we improve and do not regress to where we were.

 

“You can sit here and make excuses but it hurts, it’s a tough lesson to learn.” Damien Cook, the hooker for the

Rabbitohs, attributed a lot of Friday night’s defeat on “silly errors” that let the

Roosters maintain pressure throughout the contest.

Cook told Channel Nine, in response to a question about whether the team’s performance had been impacted by the

upheaval surrounding the club: “Not really, we were pretty close throughout

the whole thing.” Although there was considerable outside noise, I can

honestly tell that it had no effect on the playing group.

 

The fact that Demetriou’s team hasn’t seen much of Tevita Tatola, Tom Burgess,

and Jai Arrow—three important forwards—together this year hasn’t

helped. Due to a calf injury he sustained on the eve of State of Origin I, which

required more than two months to heal, Mitchell has also missed a significant

portion of the season. It’s not pleasant to read the Bunnies’ record without their

inspirational captain, and it’s safe to say that Friday was felt without him.

Historic choke from Souths savaged by fans

Demetriou will lose prop Hame Sele, fullback Blake Taaffe and back-rower Jed Cartwright next year but will welcome big-money signing Jack Wighton from Canberra. The Souths coach will surely go into next season as a man under immense pressure though, having overseen a historic choke in 2023 that has left many fans seething.

So glad this rubbish season has come to and end for Souths. As a fan not good enough. From 1st place to not even making finals. Winning 4 of their last 13 games. Enjoy the fishing trip lads. Hope you have a good hard look at yourselves in the off-season. Biggest choke ever 💩

Despite the jokes that the South was the March premier and couldn’t even make the eight, the Broncos were the April premiers.