‘Absolute hypocrisy’: Josh Mansour scorches NRL legend Greg Alexander

Axed NRL star Josh Mansour has come out swinging after he was criticised for comments that plunged the Rabbitohs further into crisis.

Jason Demetriou and Josh Mansour.

Retired NRL star Josh Mansour has lashed out over criticism surrounding his explosive claims against Rabbitohs coach Jason Demetriou.

Rugby league great Greg Alexander on Tuesday described Mansour’s comments as a “non story” while NRL commentator Andrew Voss said Mansour was simply joining the pile on directed at the under pressure South Sydney coach.

Mansour this week opened up on his exit from South Sydney, showing just how frosty his relationship with Demetriou got towards the end of his career.

Speaking on James Graham’s The Bye Round podcast, Mansour relived his 174-game career, including the Panthers’ decision to show him the door after losing the 2020 grand final.

That exit opened the door for Mansour to join the Rabbitohs on a two-year deal. He played 11 games in his first season under coach Wayne Bennett but fell out favour the following year under new coach Demetriou.

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Among the claims made, Mansour said Demetriou didn’t keep his word, claimed he was let go via a video message in front of his teammates and said there were times they didn’t speak to each other for months.

The manner of those revelations becoming public through James Graham’s The Bye Round podcast didn’t sit well with Alexander and Voss when speaking on their SEN Breakfast radio show.

“What is it about Podcasts that everyone seems to think they have to say something that is newsworthy,” Alexander said.

“When I read that Vossy I’m thinking OK. If you went through every club in the competition, even the best, there would be players in that club that don’t necessarily see eye to eye with their coach. Especially those players that are on the fringe of being in-and-out, in-and-out.

“If you’re not a permanent member of the top side… and especially experienced players, if they’re heading towards the end. Depending on the individual and the communication between the coach and that player, things happen. That’s no surprise. The stuff I read about Josh Mansour, that’s no surprise.

“There might be moments where he (Demetriou) probably could have explained it better to Josh. But the bottom line is, Josh was on the way out. He was finished.”

He went on to describe it as a “non story”.

Josh Mansour opens up about his new career post NRL

Voss responded: “When you say the timing of it. The pile on. Souths are 0-2. Drama,” Voss said.

“Say whatever you like. Do whatever you like. But if I’m advising Josh I’d say, there’s nothing to gain for you. This is just pile on South Sydney. Does Jason Demetriou have to respond to it? No he doesn’t.”

Mansour hit back on Tuesday, responding to the show’s official Twitter profile.

“What pile on? I was simply asked a question and I answered it from my personal experience,” he said.

“I never once critiqued his coaching ability. Absolute hypocrisy coming from these two who apparently have never criticised a player or coach.”

Mansour earlier opened up on the friction between him and Demetriou and pinpointed the two incidents that led to it.

“I didn’t see eye-to-eye with the coach, which was a shame... we just didn’t have a good rapport,” he admitted.

“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.

“There were multiple conversations that just didn’t go the way he was saying it was going to go. I’m a man of my word, I was holding him to every conversation we had.

“I was so frustrated that final year.

“It’s pre-season and he told me I was going to be on that right edge with ‘Stretch’ (Campbell Graham), he wants me to build my combination with him and he fully believed in me.

“Round 1 comes, he names the side on Tuesday, I was in the team and then on Thursday’s captain’s run I’m coming in and I get a text from him saying to come to his office.

“I thought it was a bit bizarre.

“He told me that he was going to rest me for that week. I was like, ‘rest me for that week? It’s Round 1, why would you name me if you thought I needed a rest?’

“And then he said ‘I just want you to get a couple of weeks under your belt’. I’m like ‘okay, no worries, all good’.

“I ended up becoming 18th man. Was I present that captain run? I was definitely not present, I didn’t want to be there. I was so off it.”

Taane Milne got the nod ahead of Mansour for Round 1. But as the rugby league gods would have it, things quickly changed when Blake Taaffe, who was named at fullback, suffered an ankle injury at training.

Demetriou shifted Alex Johnston to fullback and recalled Mansour on the wing. He scored the Rabbitohs’ only try in their 11-4 loss to the Broncos at Suncorp Stadium.

There were “no conversations” with Demetriou afterwards, according to Mansour and he was dropped to reserve grade the following week when Latrell Mitchell returned from a suspension at fullback and Johnston moved back to the wing.

Mansour, however, earned a recall in Round 5 and retained his spot until Round 8 with South Sydney winning three of those four games.

He felt confident he’d be there again in Round 9 and although he was named in the team, things took a turn.

“He texted me again on captain’s run and I go ‘I think I know’. I had a feeling it was going to be the same conversation I had in Round 1.

“I walked to my locker (first) to see if my captain’s run jersey was hanging and it wasn’t there, so I already had my answer. I already knew what was going to happen.

Jason Demetriou and Josh Mansour.

“I walked in... and straight off the bat he goes ‘I’m going to rest you this week.’ I’m like ‘Oh, what for?’ So I pressed him — I didn’t say that the first time.

“He goes ‘I thought you missed too many tackles last week’. I go, ‘can you show me?’ And I made him bring it up, it was like two missed tackles.

“There was one, it was a four on two on the short side, 10 meters off our line and I had to sit on the lead. (Reuben) Garrick was at the back, I checked, released and Garrick tipped onto the winger and I tried diving on the last ditch tackle to get to (Christian) Tuipulotu.

“I’m like, ‘what do you want to do there? Like I did my best’. He said, ‘yeah that was a bit harsh’.

“And the other one was, I jammed Garrick at the back and I kind of just bumped off him, re-gripped and took him to the ground.

“I go, ‘am I getting dropped for that?’ And he just couldn’t answer me.

“Then he tried rewinding for weeks before... And I go, ‘am I getting dropped for my performance last week or am I getting to drop for something that was weeks ago?’

“He didn’t answer me.

“From that day on, I checked out, fully checked out. I slammed my chair in and I go, ‘this is f***ing bulls**t’ and I walked out.

“I didn’t speak to him probably for like a month and a half.”

But then Mansour got a glimmer of hope that he’d get another chance in first grade — the Rabbitohs’ Round 21 clash with the Warriors on the Sunshine Coast.

“I was minding my own business in the gym, doing what I do, just prepping it for training and out of nowhere, he just come up to me in the gym and spoke to me.

“He goes, ‘I’m just going to let you know, you’re pretty close. I’m pretty happy with the way you’ve been training in reserve grade... you’ll be playing, you’re going to be playing soon’.

Demetriou then named the team and Mansour wasn’t included in the 17. There was a late change to the backline though — but it didn’t include Mansour. Izaac Thompson was promoted to the wing to make his NRL debut.

“I was so happy for Izaac but at the same time I was so filthy.

“From there, well, I let all those situations get the best of me because you know what? I always used to live by (the saying of) control what you can control (but) I couldn’t control that.

“I let my emotions get the best of me yet again. I just was just going through the motions, I just didn’t care. I didn’t give a f**... I just didn’t want to be there.

“I was just frustrated because if I wasn’t going to play there, why keep me there? I could have just looked elsewhere and I would have got a release or something... Try and find regular first grade time.

“But unfortunately, I was stuck there.”

Mansour finished up at the Rabbitohs at the end of that season but he copped one last blow before leaving the club — he found out he wasn’t going to be re-signed via a video.

“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’,” Mansour recalled

“I was the first one there. 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.”

Originally published as ‘Absolute hypocrisy’: Josh Mansour scorches NRL legend Greg Alexander