South Sydney Rabbitohs coach Jason Demetriou has shared an insight into the development of Lachlan Ilias ahead of the most important game of the 22-year-oldโs career in the preliminary final showdown with Penrith.
Brought into a fierce spotlight as a replacement for Adam Reynolds at the start of the year, the Rabbitohs coach claims that itโs been the senior players in the Rabbitohs squad who should take the lionโs share of the credit for the young halfโs incredible debut.
Though heโs had moments of doubt, particularly in the early stages, Ilias has all but secured the starting No.7 role at the club behind some increasingly noteworthy performances, and the coach says itโs the impact of the senior players on their young playmaker thatโs made the difference.
โLachie came in as a rookie pretty much, heโd only played one game at the end of last season. To do what heโs done this season has been pretty special,โ Demetriou told SEN 1170 Afternoons.
โIโve got to give credit to our senior boys, our spine in particular, for how they helped Lachie and have given him the confidence to go out there and do what heโs done.
โWe arenโt congratulating ourselves too much at the moment, thereโs a journey weโre still on and we havenโt reached that final destination yet.โ
Iliasโ success is a small-scale representation of what Demetriou has been able to achieve with his Rabbitohs team this year, with few giving them a chance of replicating last yearโs efforts following the departure of Wayne Bennett and Adam Reynolds in one fell swoop.
โThatโs probably been the biggest lesson for all of us; the expectations or things that are written about in pre-season by experts, they have no bearing on whether we apply ourselves and what goes on every week for the 24 rounds,โ Demetriou continued.
โThe players have been outstanding. Theyโve applied themselves and built our season really well. Weโre playing good footy at the right time of the year and theyโre writing their own story which is exciting to see.โ
