"Obviously, it's rewarding and pleasing to see a guy come through the system and battled for a number of years," Demetriou said post-match.
"I don't think there are too many that would've debuted after 28 years old, so he's definitely in a small minority of people there, and he acquitted himself really well.
"I thought he was excellent defensively on that edge.
"He scored a try that was really hard to finish, and you could see the energy and the excitement from the players when he scored that try as well because it meant as much to them as it did to him.
"And to hear his dad and family speak pre-game was pretty special.
"It's definitely those moments that you think about in your career that you're pretty lucky to be a part of, and it goes to show tonight that the journey was worth it, and he showed he can handle playing in the
NRL."