Weirdler trying to make a story out of the Sharks again. He tried it last week with Fafita and the reasons why he was dropped, but Gal put him in his place on 100% Footy. Hopefully Gal calls kybosh on this one too.
When Cronulla found out Bronson Xerri was going to speak for the first time about his positive drugs test, club bosses were in a flap.
According to sources at the NRL, Sharks chief executive Dino Mezzatesta was straight on the phone to the heavy hitters at Moore Park when he heard I was going to talk to Xerri. The Sharks clearly feared what he would say about the club, which has had its governance questioned many times during the past decade.
Bronson Xerri says his dream is to get back on the field.CREDIT:NRL PHOTOS
Cronulla know how bad it looks that their best young player would be in such a desperate place that he would use banned substances. Because when Xerri tells his full story we will hear about a player who was dealing with a shoulder injury that required two operations, the first real setback of his young career. He felt alone and unsupported. In the background, his brother was dealing with a manslaughter charge, which came just 11 days before his positive test.
To say he was in a bad place is an understatement. He went for the quick fix on his shoulder. I have been told by sources close to him that it wasn’t a bid for extra speed, endurance or performance. It was a one-off shortcut to recover from a serious injury.
I am not excusing his behaviour; I am presenting for the first time the situation that Xerri faced.
Xerri was provisionally suspended in May under the NRL’s anti-doping policy after he returned a positive A sample for exogenous testosterone, androsterone, etiocholanolone and 5b-androstane-3a,17b-diol from a test on November 25, 2019. He is awaiting the outcome of an appeal.
‘I have learnt a lot from this and I hope that one day people will forgive me because I am sorry.’
Xerri Bronson
“It’s not what people think,” Xerri told me during the week.
I don’t know if he was getting any support from the Sharks when he was going through surgery, but the club was in touch with Xerri when he lay in bed for weeks after his positive test not wanting to face the world. Xerri says the NRL has not been in contact with him. The NRL says it definitely reached out to offer support.
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It’s an interesting point because Sam Burgess also complained that he had not been supported by the NRL. Interestingly, on Friday Burgess was acquitted on appeal of intimidating his former father-in-law, Mitchell Hooke.
People may think Xerri deserves what he gets but if it was a one-off – as I have been told it was – he deserves ongoing support from the NRL. He is only 20 and Xerri is not asking for sympathy.
“My headspace was pretty bad, but I am working on things and I’m a lot better than I was,” he said. “I just want to say that this was my mistake, no one else’s. Not my family. I love my family and the reason I want to play again is to make them proud. I know I have let my family down and I have lost friends over all this. But at least I know who my friends are.
“I have learnt a lot from this and I hope that one day people will forgive me because I am sorry. I made a bad decision when I was in a bad place.
“Most hurtful to Xerri was the inference that his family contributed to his predicament. That’s why he took the extraordinary step of admitting his mistake even before his final appeal has been resolved by the NRL’s anti-doping tribunal. He wants to put an end to attacks on his family and suggestions of long-term drug use, particularly a media report implying that he was using performance-enhancing drugs “for years”. He says he is considering his legal options.
Sprint coach Roger FabriCREDIT:JAMES BRICKWOOD
In the coming days we will learn why Cronulla are nervous. Only the Sharks know how much emotional support they were giving Xerri when he was out injured. I’ve seen all of Xerri’s physical results from that time and the club was monitoring his performances very closely. There were no red flags. He had also been drug-tested on a regular basis. He was tested soon after he produced the positive and nothing showed up.
One person in regular contact with Xerri is his sprint coach, Roger Fabri.
“I suffer from mental health [problems]. I’ve been there when no one wants to know you, ” Fabri said. “This will pass for him, but he needs people to guide him through and if I can help him, I will.“
Next for Xerri is finding alternative work. “But football has been my life since I was five,” he said. “My dream is to get out there again.”
https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/it...sing-drugs-was-a-one-off-20210320-p57ck2.html
