Jason Demetriou facing ugly win or lose NRL scenario amid Latrell Mitchell absence

Jason Demetriou is reportedly facing a must-win 80 minutes of NRL footy next week against the Sharks to save his job and he must do it without star fullback Latrell Mitchell. The Rabbitohs have endured a nightmare start to the season having started 1-4 in 2024.

Demetriou labelled Mitchell's two actions that saw him on report in the loss to the Warriors as 'stupid' with the fullback facing a three week ban for his elbow on Shaun Johnson. And to make matters worse, the Rabbitohs have a tough run in their next three fixtures.

The Rabbitohs face the Sharks at home, the Storm away and Penrith at home in their next three matches. All three games are against top eight opponents. However, reports suggest Demetriou might not even get all three fixtures to prove himself.

Multiple reports suggest Demetriou has around 80 minutes to show he can lead the Rabbitohs for the remainder of 2024 with a loss against the Sharks a potential deal breaker. This comes as Demetriou was handed a contract extension last year with Rabbitohs officials backing their coach.

Replacement names are being thrown around with assistant coach Ben Hornby the favourite to take over if Demetriou departs the Rabbitohs. While former Dragons halfback Hornby is the favourite, Sam Burgess is still being mentioned. Burgess left the club last year after appearing to disagree with how the club was being run. Burgess is a long-shot to return having taken up the head coaching role at Warrington Wolves in the Super League.

Reporter Phil Rothfield claimed Demetriou is facing a very hard task in keeping his job with the Rabbitohs set to make a decision very soon after what he suspects will prompt an internal review.

“I think when Souths walked out of Accor Stadium the other night I think the landscape has changed significantly,” Rothfield said on the Big Sports Breakfast. “I think the chairman, the CEO and the board have resolutely stood by their coach in some pretty tough circumstances over the last month but I think that patience has run out.

“His days are numbered. This Cronulla game, if they can get up it might delay the proceedings and a move on the coach but look I think it’s done. They will have an internal review now. I just want people to understand we’ve only had five weeks of the season and to judge a coach on five weeks is particularly unfair, but what the Rabbitohs are doing is they’re going back to when they were leading the competition midway through last year, that was 20 games ago and they’ve lost 15 of those matches."

“With the roster they have, with Jack Wighton, Cody Walker, Damien Cook, Keaon Koloamatangi, they’re just not aiming up. While you can blame the players, it is the head coach’s responsibility at every NRL club to ensure his football players turn up and present on game day ready to go and Jason Demetriou has not been able to achieve that with his football team. I think his time is up, I really do.”

Jye Gray could replace Latrell Mitchell in must-win game

Demetriou faces a massive decision on who to replace the suspended Mitchell with at fullback in what appears to be a must-win 80 minutes of footy. Rabbitohs fans have been desperately calling for Demetriou to shift Mitchell to the centres for some time with young gun Jye Gray to take the No.1 jersey.

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And Demetriou has the opportunity to hand Gray his debut for the Rabbitohs against the Sharks. The fullback scored a try, had an assist, made four linebreaks, provided a linebreak assist and ran for 271 running metres in the NSW Cup on the same day the Rabbitohs lost 48-6 against the Warriors.

Gray's performance could determine how the Rabbitohs proceed going forward with a growing number of the Rabbitohs fanbase calling for Mitchell to move back into the centres where he dominated earlier in his career. Regardless, Mitchell's attacking strength will be missed next week with the fullback set to miss three games for his elbow on Johnson.