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The pressure on Rabbitohs coach Jason Demetriou is piling up, with a former player publicly criticising his approach and communication in an explosive interview.
Josh Mansour – who played over 170 games in the NRL and represented both Australia and NSW – was part of the South Sydney squad in Demetriou’s first season in 2022, but managed to play just five top grade matches that year.
The 33-year-old was signed by the Bunnies during Wayne Bennett’s tenure and enjoyed limited success in 2021, before being shut out by Demetriou the following year.
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Mansour officially hung up the boots at the end of last year, but didn’t miss his chance to take aim at Demetriou when quizzed on his relationship with the coach.
“I didn’t see eye-to-eye with the coach, which was a shame … we just didn’t have a good rapport,” he told The Bye Round podcast.
“I feel like every time he spoke to me he didn’t live up to what he was saying and I let it get to me. I’m a man of my word, I was holding him to every conversation we had.
“I was so frustrated that final year.”
Mansour went in-depth on the situation, revealing Demetriou opted to ‘rest’ the winger for an opening-round clash, only informing him of the decision at captain’s run.
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Later in the season, Mansour was left out of the Souths lineup two more times, including for debutant Izaac Thompson – despite conversations with Demetriou that indicated he would be selected in the NRL team.
The nail in the coffin for Mansour’s time at the Bunnies came at an end-of-season team meeting, where he was informed he would be leaving the club in a very public manner.
”We get to the end of the year, we’re in the video room and they said ‘we’re going to put in a little farewell video for the guys that are leaving and want to thank them for their time’ … and I was the first one there,” he said.
“I didn’t even know that I was leaving. I was the first one on the clip.
“I wasn’t surprised with all the stuff that happened before. But yeah, it was a very sad time to leave Souths unfortunately.”
Mansour was criticised by Panthers legend Greg Alexander and league commentator Andrew Voss on SEN Radio, which prompted a staunch defence from the retired star.
The revelations from Mansour come as Demetriou makes the biggest call of his head coaching career, dropping halfback Lachlan Ilias for a must-win clash with the Roosters.
Last year, club legend Sam Burgess walked out in dramatic fashion from his role following a reported falling out with Latrell Mitchell and Cody Walker, shining light on the internal turmoil at Redfern.
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