South Sydney coach Jason Demetriou has revealed his reaction to comments made by Clive Churchill’s son Rod after a tumultuous two weeks for the club.
Churchill took aim at star Latrell Mitchell in a leaked text message, which accused him of putting ‘the Aboriginal cause paramount and South Sydney second, if at all’.
Speaking ahead of his side’s grudge match against the Roosters, Demetriou described the comments as “disrespectful”.
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“First of all, who?,” he said when asked of his immediate reaction.
“I didn’t know who it was when I first heard it.
“You’ve got to put it in context when these comments came out, or alleged that they were sent, was in round 12.
“We were joint top of the table and Latrell was a huge part of that and then he missed three months from that point on so to be throwing those kind of words at him I think were pretty disrespectful to him, his culture and most importantly to our club.”
Demetriou was then asked if the leaking had been done as part of an agenda, following a theory floated on Nine’s 100% Footy that the Roosters were involved.
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”Of course but agendas are everywhere in our game … it’s not hard to get a story out there or to push an agenda if you want it, if it’s the right story people will get behind it depending on who it is,” he said.
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Since the coverage of South Sydney’s troubles and increased scrutiny on Mitchell, many have speculated how long he’ll continue in the game.
This week, teammate Damien Cook outlined his fear the criticism could lead to him walking away.
“I would like to hope that it won’t happen, but when you go through moments like we have, you wouldn’t be surprised if – when he finishes his next contract – he goes, ‘enough is enough, I’m 30 now, that will do me’,” he said.
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“I hope not, I hope we don’t lose a superstar of our game, probably the most talked-about player in our game and the most recognised player in the NRL.
“I hope we don’t lose him any earlier because of issues like this.”
Fellow teammate Cody Walker, who was also subject to accusations of preferential treatment, also said during the week that it’d be “sad to see” if the fullback did walk away.
In the face of that prospect, Demetriou said he had spoken to Mitchell about the past two weeks.
“Of course, as you would do with any player, my job’s not only to coach him but to look after him as well,” he said.
“It’s hurtful because I know how much he gives to the team and how much he gives to the club and how much he loves playing with his teammates.
“For those things to be said about him and his culture I think is pretty disrespectful.
“But what it does show, when you’re in tough times like the week we’ve had, what it shows is it’s the people around you that really matter in your life and he’s surrounded by a lot of good people, as we all are and we move on and do what we love, and that’s to play footy.”