Ex-Wakefield Trinity star opens up on ‘horrendous facilities’ and the financial struggles Super League clubs endure

Jason Demetriou is now enjoying the glitz and glamour of being head coach of one of the biggest clubs in the NRL: South Sydney Rabbitohs.

However, once upon a time he was trying to change the culture at Wakefield Trinity as the club struggled for the money needed to develop modern facilities.

Speaking on ex-St Helens star James Graham’s podcast The Bye Round, Demetriou opened up on the difficulties at Wakefield

“The facilities were horrendous to be honest,” he said, “That’s what I’m proud of my time there, it wasn’t just about on the field, it was about dragging the club into the 21st century in terms of professional sport.

“I remember the first year that I played, they were trying to make us travel down to London and not stay the night before and we had to buy all of our food.”

He explained that it is the lack of money in Super League which led to such problems:

“In Northern England you don’t have endless money, the Sky money doesn’t cover the cap so you have to have owners that put in money and sometimes that’s a lot of money.

“While we challenged that, we understood that there wasn’t the resources everyone had.

“We made some change.”