South Sydney Rabbitohs have sacked head coach Jason Demetriou, after a crisis board meeting. Assistant Ben Hornby will take charge of the side as interim head coach.
Demetriou's departure comes as rumours former coach Wayne Bennett will return in 2025. Bennett coached South Sydney from 201-21 and is currently head coach of the Dolphins.
The Rabbitohs have announced Demetriou's termination in a statement, saying that a "less-than-satisfactory series of results over the 2023 and 2024 seasons" had led to the need to go in a "new direction with its coaching".
"The board and management feel that now is the time to make a change to the leadership of our football programme in terms of the head coaching role," said Rabbitohs chief executive Blake Solly.
"There is no doubting Jason's work ethic or his drive for success, but unfortunately, that success has not been forthcoming over the past 12 months."
After following Wayne Bennett from Brisbane and joining South Sydney in 2018 as an assistant coach, Demetriou took over as head coach at the end of the 2021 season.
In his first full season in charge, the Rabbitohs earned their fifth straight preliminary final appearance, before being beaten by eventual premiers Penrith.
However, the club missed out on the 2023 playoffs, after struggling during the second half of the season, winning just four games after round 11.
In 2024, the club has won just one game in eight rounds and is dead last on the table.
Bennett, 74, has already said he will leave the Dolphins at the end of the 2024 NRL season.
The veteran coach has also been linked with a move to Parramatta Eels, but the Rabbitohs have now allowed themselves the chance to be the first to go after Bennett.
South Sydney's next clash comes against the three-time reigning premiers Penrith Panthers.
