He was the man Wayne Bennett wanted to succeed him as Brisbane coach.
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But Bennett's senior Broncos assistant Jason Demetriou is now in NRL limbo after being axed by Brisbane.
And it appears the rest of Bennett's former Broncos support staff - including high performance chief Jeremy Hickmans and analyst Scott Barker - may follow.
Brisbane have cut Demetriou just days after former South Sydney mentor Anthony Seibold took over the Broncos reins following an ongoing coach swap saga with Bennett.
Demetriou, Hickmans, Barker and sports scientist Tannath Scott were asked to take this week off by the Broncos as they sorted their coaching staff for 2019 following Bennett's inglorious exit.
But there was no room for Demetriou in the new regime after Seibold brought with him assistants Peter Gentle and Ben Cross, plus high performance manager Paul Devlin.
Demetriou's future is now up in the air with new South Sydney coach Bennett saying upon his arrival at Redfern this week that he was not allowed to bring support staff to the Rabbitohs.
It is far cry from what Bennett had planned for Demetriou at Red Hill.
Bennett this year put forward a proposal to the Broncos board in which he would coach for another season in 2020, then take on a football director role the next season with Demetriou taking over the reins.
The board knocked it back, setting off a chain reaction that ended with Bennett linking with South Sydney on a three year deal from 2019.
Hickmans and Barker are expected to be moved on by the Broncos on Friday.
Scott's fate is unclear.
Bennett feared for his Broncos support staff's future when he faced the media in Sydney on Tuesday.
"There's four of them sidelined, told to go away and their futures will be decided - I've got great empathy for those people," he said.
"When I was interviewed ...(Rabbitohs general manager of football) Shane Richardson told me that I couldn't bring staff with me."
Australian Associated Press
