From Belle Vue to NRL top job for Jason Demetriou

It was recently confirmed the Souths assistant will replace the legendary Wayne Bennett at the helm of Redfern for 2022, capping a meteoric rise through the coaching ranks.

He has been an assistant at all those aforementioned NRL clubs but the popular Australian, of course, spent most of his playing career in the UK.

That is where he became a Trinity legend, making almost 200 appearances as they enjoyed some of their best times of the modern era.

Captain Demetriou was shortlisted for Man of Steel with Kangaroos star Trent Barrett and James Roby in 2007 after the centre’s exploits at Belle Vue earned him a Dream Team spot.

It was at Wakefield where he came under the guidance of head coach John Kear and, when Demetriou eventually left in 2010, he was already well set to start his own professional coaching career as player-coach at Keighley Cougars.

Speaking from his home in Sydney, he told The Yorkshire Post: “It’s pretty exciting to have this all locked in and be able to plan for the future.

“Souths is a historic club with so much history and to get a first opportunity with a club like this is great. I’m looking forward to it.

“I’ve picked up plenty from different coaches over the years and definitely learned a lot from John Kear.

“He was a great mentor for me in terms of leadership and that motivation space, understanding how to get players up for a game and the processes it took.

“We worked quite closely and, to this day, I’ve worked with some good coaches.

“This period now with Wayne Bennett, then Paul McGregor (St George), Paul Green at the Cowboys.

“But John Kear was up there with Wayne in terms of being able to motivate a group of individuals.”

The 44-year-old, who helped out local amateur club Crigglestone while at Trinity, added: “My time at Wakefield is probably the highlight of my career.

“I was fortunate to spend time at two great clubs over there in Widnes and Wakefield.

“To captain Trinity for five years and achieve the highs that I did and build the club the way we did was great.

“At the time we were battling relegation but we went on and made finals (play-offs) twice and through a lot of adversity as well.

“It was a club that never spent the cap and we had to make sure the culture and personnel was right but we had some great times and it’s great to see the club doing some good things now under Chris Chester.”

As a teenager, Demetriou coached junior sides back in Australia up until, aged 23, he flew to the UK to initially join Lancashire Lynx. His last club here was Keighley in the third tier, whom he joined as player-coach in 2011, giving him valuable experience to take back home.

“I was probably fortunate to get an opportunity to do that at Keighley and it was a great platform for me,” explained Demetriou.

“The biggest thing it gave me was an appreciation for every decision you make.

“We didn’t have money to rely on to buy a team so we had to make sure that everything we did was about getting the right people in and creating the right culture.

“We got promoted the first year and made the finals (play-offs) of the Championship in the second. I loved it. There were times I was marking lines, or cleaning out changing rooms – all the things you don’t expect head coaches to be doing – but that’s what we all did, helping save money so every penny we had could be invested in players.

“I think the players appreciated that and it gave a good work ethic for the footy team as well.”

Bennett, of course, is arguably the greatest rugby league coach of all time, the 70-year-old having achieved so much during his glittering career.

Demetriou worked with the former England chief at Brisbane and followed him to Souths ahead of last season.

“From Wayne, I’ve learned a hell of a lot in terms of the day to day little things he does with his players and the care he has for them,” he said. “He’s a real players coach; everything he does is to protect them and to help them as much as he can.

“The way he handles off-field stuff and deflects some things away from the team, he controls the narrative really well.

“He’s probably the master of that.

“It’s been a great experience and, for sure, he’s been a big part of the opportunity I’ve just been granted at South Sydney.”