Jason Demetriou (rugby league)

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Jason Demetriou
Personal information
Full nameJason Demetriou
Born (1976-01-13) 13 January 1976 (age 48)
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Height183 cm (6 ft 0 in)
Weight88 kg (13 st 12 lb)
Playing information
PositionCentre, Lock, Second-row, Five-eighth
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2000 Lancashire Lynx 10 4 0 1 17
2000 Rochdale Hornets 20 5 0 1 21
2001–03 Widnes Vikings 85 33 1 0 134
2004–10 Wakefield Trinity Wildcats 187 50 2 0 204
2011–12 Keighley Cougars 46 15 0 0 60
Total 348 107 3 2 436
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2000 Canada 2 3 0 0 12
Coaching information
Club
Years Team Gms W D L W%
2011–12 Keighley Cougars 33 20 0 13 61
2022– South Sydney 60 31 0 29 52
Total 93 51 0 42 55
Representative
Years Team Gms W D L W%
2014 Queensland Residents 1 1 0 0 100
Source: [1][2][3]
As of 6 April 2024

Jason Demetriou (/ˈdəmiːtrɪoʊ/) (born 13 January 1976) is an Australian professional rugby league coach who is a head coach of the South Sydney Rabbitohs in the NRL and a former professional player.

Predominantly a centre, Demetriou spent all of his 13-year playing career in England, playing for six clubs and for Canada internationally. He has previously held head coaching jobs at the Keighley Cougars, Northern Pride and Illawarra Cutters and has been an assistant coach for the St George Illawarra Dragons, Brisbane Broncos and North Queensland Cowboys, where he was on the coaching staff that won the 2015 NRL Grand Final.

Playing career[edit]

Early career[edit]

Born in Sydney, Demetriou grew up in the St George area of Sydney and supported the Balmain Tigers as a child. He is of Greek[4] and Canadian descent; his grandmother was born in Alberta.[5][6] As a teen, Demetriou played in the Harold Matthews Cup and S.G. Ball Cup for the St George Dragons. From there Demetriou moved to the Newtown Jets, where he played for their Metropolitan Cup side and later the Bondi Roosters, before moving to England in December 1999. In 2000, Demetriou played for the now-defunct Lancashire Lynx and the Rochdale Hornets.[7]

Widnes Vikings[edit]

In 2001, Demetriou joined the Widnes Vikings in the second division Northern Ford Premiership, with side gaining promotion to the Super League in Demetriou's first season with club and Demetriou being named the 2001 Northern Ford Premiership Overseas Player of the Year.

Wakefield Trinity Wildcats[edit]

In 2004, Demetriou joined the Wakefield Trinity Wildcats (captain) (Heritage № 1213) where he spent the next seven seasons, captaining the club for five of those seasons. In doing so, he became the first Australian player without NRL experience to captain a Super League team.

In 2006, he was named Wakefield Trinity Wildcat's Player of the Year. That season he scored a late try against local rivals, the Castleford Tigers, to keep Wakefield Trinity Wildcats in the Super League, simultaneously relegating Castleford Tigers. The moment was captured and a large copy of the photo is on display outside the coach's office at Belle Vue.[8]

In 2007, he was named as Wakefield Trinity Wildcats's Player of the Year again.[citation needed] He was also named at centre in the Super League Dream Team, and was short-listed for the Man of Steel award along with Trent Barrett and James Roby.[citation needed]

In 2009, he wore the number 8 jersey for Wakefield Trinity Wildcats, in memory of his close friend Adam Watene. Demetriou is associated with the Adam Watene Fund, helping raise funds for his family in New Zealand. In 2010, he was awarded a 3-month testimonial at the Wakefield Trinity Wildcats as a reward for his hard work and dedication to English rugby league.[citation needed]

International career[edit]

Demetriou played two games for Canada at the 2000 Rugby League Emerging Nations Tournament.[5]

Demetriou said in 2022, "I should have played twice for Greece before I retired but off-season surgery stopped me. Probably the one regret I had during my career was not being able to represent Greece."[4]

Coaching career[edit]

Demetriou's contract with Wakefield Trinity Wildcats expired at the end of 2010, and he was told that it would not be renewed. He initially joined the York City Knights for 2011, but a subsequent offer as player-coach for Keighley Cougars arose, and was accepted. In his first season in charge, Keighley gained promotion to the Kingstone Press Championship.

Demetriou returned to Australia in 2013, becoming the head coach for the Northern Pride in the Queensland Cup. During his two seasons at the Pride, the club won back-to-back minor premierships, the 2014 Queensland Cup Grand Final and the inaugural NRL State Championship game. In 2014, he coached the Queensland Residents side, who defeated the NSW Cup rep side 24–16.

In October 2014, Demetriou joined the North Queensland Cowboys as an assistant coach.[9] On 4 October 2015, Demetriou was a member of the North Queensland coaching staff in the side's 17–16 Grand Final victory over Brisbane.

In January 2016, Demetriou joined the St. George Illawarra Dragons as an assistant coach and as head coach to their NSW Cup feeder team, the Illawarra Cutters.[10] In September 2016, he was named coach of the 2016 Intrust Super Premiership NSW Team of the Year.[11] He went on to win the grand final with the Cutters that year.

In 2017, Demetriou joined Brisbane under head coach Wayne Bennett.[12] He took over as the side's attacking coach in Round 6 of the 2018 NRL season, with the side scoring the second most tries in the competition from that point forward.[13]

In December 2018, he joined South Sydney as an assistant coach, following Bennett to the club.[14] In February 2020, it was announced that Demetriou would succeed Bennett as head coach at the end of the 2021 NRL season.[15] On 6 August 2020, it was announced Demetriou would make his coaching debut for the South Sydney Rabbitohs after head coach Wayne Bennett breached the NRL's COVID-19 protocols.[16] His first match as coach saw the South Sydney club defeat Brisbane by 28–10 at ANZ Stadium in Sydney.[17]

Following the conclusion of the 2021 NRL season, he replaced the outgoing Bennett as the new head coach of South Sydney. In his first official game in charge, South Sydney were defeated 11-4 by Brisbane at Suncorp Stadium. In round 3 of the 2022 NRL season, he earned his first win in charge of South Sydney against arch rivals the Sydney Roosters.[18] In his first full season at South Sydney, he guided the club to their fifth straight preliminary final. Souths took an early 12-0 lead over Penrith but were eventually defeated 32-12.[19] In his second season at the club, Demetriou guided Souths to second place on the table during the midway point of the 2023 NRL season. However, the club would suffer a form slump in the second half of the year only winning four matches. South Sydney would finish 9th on the table missing the finals for the first time since 2017.[20]

At the start of the 2024 NRL season under Demetriou, South Sydney lost their opening three matches of the season including a humiliating 48-6 loss against arch-rivals the Sydney Roosters. It was South Sydney's worst start to a season since 2008.[21] Ahead of the clubs round 6 game against Cronulla, it was reported that Demetriou would be sacked as South Sydney head coach if they failed to win the match.[22]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Player Summary: Jason Demetriou". Rugby League Records. Rugby League Record Keepers Club. Retrieved 27 April 2024.
  2. ^ RLP
  3. ^ Rugby League Project Coaches
  4. ^ a b Walter, Brad (25 March 2022). "Greek influence strong at Rabbitohs". NRL.com.
  5. ^ a b "South Sydney Coach Jason Demetriou on the teams preparations for Vegas". Breakfast with Vossy & Brandy. 23 February 2024. Sports Entertainment Network. Yeah, I did, Vossy, in the 2000 Emerging Nations in the World Cup over in England. I played twice for Canada in the three game series they had and yeah, my nan was born in Canada, in Alberta, so it was great to represent her side of the family and put on the Canadian jersey.
  6. ^ Canada Rugby League (2 March 2024). "Instagram post". Instagram. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
  7. ^ "Jason Demetriou | Richard de la Rivière". richarddelariviere.co.uk. Archived from the original on 21 October 2013.
  8. ^ "NEW STARS SIGN UP WITH THE VIKINGS". Runcorn and Widnes World. 26 September 2001. Retrieved 13 July 2007.
  9. ^ "Demetriou to join coaching team". 14 October 2014.
  10. ^ "Dragons Announce Key Staff Changes". 7 January 2016.
  11. ^ NSWRL.com.au (26 March 2016). "2016 Intrust Super Cup Team of the Year". Zero Tackle. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
  12. ^ "Jason Demetriou Joins Broncos' Staff". 27 October 2016.
  13. ^ "Why Broncos assistant Demetriou has what it takes to be an NRL head coach". 15 August 2018.
  14. ^ "Rabbitohs Announce Support Staff". 13 December 2018.
  15. ^ "Bennett's reign to end in 2021 as Souths lock in successor. But Wayne is eyeing another gig". Fox Sports Australia. 21 February 2020. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  16. ^ "'Jeopardises the game': Bennett gets brutal COVID 'wake up call' from ARLC boss". 6 August 2020.
  17. ^ "South Sydney beats Brisbane Broncos 28-10 in NRL grudge match, Manly loses to Warriors". ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation). 7 August 2020. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
  18. ^ "Broncos stun Rabbitohs as Capewell, Haas stand tall". www.nrl.com. 11 March 2022.
  19. ^ "Penrith Panthers defeat South Sydney Rabbitohs 32-12 to qualify for third straight NRL grand final". ABC News. 24 September 2022.
  20. ^ "'Absolute madness': Potential Latrell switch slammed as a 'band aid' for broken Bunnies". www.foxsports.com.au.
  21. ^ "'Total domination': Dismal Souths could hit 14-year-low amid horror rout — Big hits". www.foxsports.com.au.
  22. ^ "'Shouldn't get involved with that club': The 'red flag' that worries Mal about potential Souths job". www.foxsports.com.au.

External links[edit]

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