In a startling retreat, South Sydney spares the troubled fire coach… for the time being.

In the near future, South Sydney coach Jason Demetriou will remain secure in his role as head coach of the Rabbitohs while the team struggles to climb the NRL standings.

The South Sydney team’s display against Cronulla, following a horrible 1-5 start to the season, has persuaded club executives to hold off on firing Demetriou for the time being.

Demetriou will have some time to try to obtain a response from the Rabbitohs roster as the Bunnies have a bye in round seven and games against Melbourne and Penrith after that.

The development comes after Fox League revealed the Rabbitohs had identified Immortal and Kangaroos coach Mal Meninga as the best candidate to be parachuted in as a caretaker coach if they opted to axe Demetriou.

The Meninga interest will now be put on hold off the back of the Bunnies producing a gutsy display when reduced to 14 players for 40 minutes against the Sharks.

Demetriou was stoic when asked post-match if he thought had done enough to keep his job.

“I expect so yeah, nobody’s told me otherwise, so we’ll review the game turn up, if not, we’ll find out,” he said after the loss to the Sharks.

“You know, it’s not ideal, don’t get me wrong, you don’t want to be going through this but the reality is it’s elite sport. We’re a huge club.”

On Sunday morning, South Sydney chief executive Blake Solly told Sydney Morning Herald: “I think Nick Pappas (Rabbitohs chairman) said on Saturday what would be required to get that time (for Demetriou) and I think the team showed that.

“It was a brave performance in really difficult circumstances. Clearly there’s always room for improvement but the character and the performance stacks up with exactly what Nick said we needed to see on Saturday.”