A look at Demetriou’s playing career reveals a more than respectable 243 games in the English Super League with Widnes and Wakefield Trinity, five seasons as captain of the Wildcats and two club player of the year gongs (2006 and 2007).

What a cursory glance at his resume doesn’t reveal is that he had to wait until he was 26 before playing in the top-flight, or the years he spent with the likes of Lancashire Lynx and the Rochdale Hornets in the English second-tier waiting for a chance.

It’s an experience that informs his coaching career that already includes the 2013 Queensland Cup and Interstate Championship titles’ with the Noerthern Pride. He’s looking to repeat the feat this season with the Cutters who face Newtown in Sunday’s Intrust Super Premiership preliminary final at Leichardt Oval.

“It gives me a good appreciation of what it’s like for these guys,” Demetriou said.

“I’ve been in that environment. I had to work my way up through the semi-professional ranks and I understand what it takes mentally and physically to keep turning up each week hoping an opportunity comes your way.

“The biggest challenge is keeping your part-timers connected and feeling that there are opportunities that will come for them and that’s the key thing as coach, to keep the boys believing that their opportunity will come.

“It’s easy to say but not all that easy to do.”

It’s a culture the man widely tipped as a future NRL coach has managed to build with the Cutters this season, leading them to a top-two regular season finish and within one game of a grand final appearance.

“We felt in the past there’s been a bit of a disconnect between the Cutters and Dragons players,” Demetriou said.

“We wanted to create that family culture and I think we’ve done that.

“Back in February we spoke about the characteristics we wanted to have as a team and I feel we’ve achieved them.  

“We’ve come from behind quite a lot, we’ve scored more points than any other team in the second half and conceded the fewest points in the second half so that shows where your players are and how hard they’re willing to work to get the job done even when they’re behind.

“We’ve done what we needed to do to get in this position and now it’s about getting excited about what we can do from here. 

“We’ve done some things this year that no other Cutters side has done before and it’s important we recognise that, pat ourselves on the back but use those characteristics to drive us forward and get the job done now.”