It's time for us to treat our fans - Keighley coach Demetriou (From Keighley News)

It's time for us to treat our fans - Keighley coach Demetriou

4:20pm Thursday 12th July 2012 in Sport By Ross Heppenstall

Jason Demetriou is demanding more of the same from his players this weekend as Cougars seek to enhance their play-off credentials at home to York City Knights.

Demetriou’s men are back on home soil for the first time since they lost to Batley on June 24, a result which marked their third straight home defeat.

Having stopped the rot with victory at Hunslet in their last outing, Cougars will be looking to maintain their winning ways on Sunday at home to Chris Thorman’s side.

Player-coach Demetriou said: “York have scored a lot of points in recent weeks and we’ll need to be a lot better than we have been for the past month.

“I thought we addressed a lot of those issues against Hunslet and we need to improve again this weekend.

“We just want to have a big performance and make sure that we give our home fans a good win because we’ve had three disappointing performances there in recent weeks.”

The 22-12 victory at Hunslet on July 1 breathed new life into Cougars’ campaign and left Demetriou in quietly confident mood ahead of this weekend’s clash.

He added: “I thought we did a lot of things well that we’ve been working on, such as a different type of way that we want to play.

“That’s going to take a bit of time but showed some signs that it can be effective.

“We worked on it again during our weekend off and will be doing so again this week.

“We’ll be looking for further signs of improvement but we’ve got players, and that’s the most important thing.

“This is the right time of year and we’re looking to go on a bit of a run.”

Significantly, Cougars’ injury list has eased massively, leaving forward Richard Jones as their only major absentee.

Demetriou added: “Jamaine Wray, Semi Tadulala, Ben Sagar . . . we’ll have the whole squad fit and available except for Richie, who is nursing a shoulder injury.

“Having competition for places is what I want. We haven’t had that recently.

“We’ve been scratching around to get a side together, but I’ve been really impressed with our reserves as well.

"They’ve strung together some good wins and I’m looking forward to bringing some of them into the first-team environment this year.”

Demetriou has also been left encouraged by York player-coach Thorman’s success in landing a plum position at his old club Huddersfield Giants.

He will take up the role of assistant to Paul Anderson at Huddersfield at the end of the season, and Demetriou, who is himself carving out a growing reputation in coaching circles, said: “Chris has obviously still got links from his time as a player there.

"An opportunity has arisen, he’s put in for it, and has got it. It’s good that there is a pathway for coaches in Super League as well as players.”

Demetriou, meanwhile, is hoping crisis-torn Bradford Bulls can find a buyer to stave off the looming threat of liquidation.

The Bulls’ Super League licence is under threat as they fight for their future, and Demetriou said: “It’s obvious that a lot of things have gone on and the finances haven’t been looked after, and unfortunately it has come to this.

“The deadline has been extended but hopefully it can be sorted one way or another in the next couple of weeks because it’s not good for players and their families.

“They don’t know whether they’re coming or going, but I’m sure they’ll finish the season.

“If they go into liquidation there’s a big argument they should go into the Championship and start again as Crusaders did.

“Yes, the Bulls are a big club but you can’t have one rule for one and one rule for another.

“That’s the big problem in our game; there’s no consistency across the board."