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Asada Focus on Xerri's family in drugs investigation
The Australian Anti-Doping Authority has taken an interest in the family of Bronson Xerri and its colourful history as it investigates criminal links around the supply of anabolic steroids following the Cronulla teenager’s positive drugs test.
Xerri, 19, has been provisionally stood down and is facing a suspension of up to four years after returning a positive A-sample to the banned substances exogenous testosterone, androsterone, etiocholanolone and 5b-androstane-3a,17b-diol when target tested following a tip-off last November.
An array of illegal substances from prescription drugs including steroids, valium and xanax, ammunition and a bayonet knife were seized during raids on premises in Merrylands, Greystanes, Ermington and Granville. Police also found more than $50,000 in cash.
It resulted in Troy Xerri facing Parramatta Local Court on charges of supplying a commercial quantity of a prohibited drug and take part in supply of a prohibited drug.
His jail term included a non-parole period of two years and six months.
ASADA investigators seized Bronson Xerri’s phone briefly this week to download data from it.
A call to the Xerri home on Friday went unanswered.
Xerri has previously spoken of the importance of his family, which has connections to the harness racing industry, during his rapid rugby league rise. His other older brother Dylan presented him with his maiden first-grade jersey before his NRL debut last year.
Dylan was a promising lower-grader at the Sharks before injury curtailed his career.
Speaking after his first NRL game, Xerri said: “I was doing it for my family. My family was very proud of me.”
On Friday, Cronulla coach John Morris said he was "sick in the stomach" when told of Xerri's positive A-sample.
"I actually haven't spoken to Bronson myself ... I've reached out, I think he just needs some space to get his head around it," Morris said before Cronulla's match against Wests Tigers at Bankwest Stadium on Saturday.
"I've made contact with him, the club has certainly got in touch with him, but I don't think he has spoken to anyone. I think he is just taking this time to get his head around the situation he is in."
The Sharks coach said he was in his office on Tuesday with staff when he received a call from the club's general manager of football, Phil Moss, about 12.30pm.
"I was told to report to his office straight away for something urgent," he said. "I clearly didn't think it was going to be anything like that."
Morris then had to break the news to the team during a training session on Wednesday morning. "It was pretty hard telling them," he said. "They obviously found out but we couldn't get them face to face."
The Sharks are bracing to pay Xerri until his case is resolved, which could take months pending the results of the B-sample he can have analysed.
While the doping violation is yet to be confirmed with a B sample, the attention of ASADA investigators is now very much on trying to establish whether there are criminal links to the distribution of the substances found in Xerri’s system.
It was a year-long Australian Crime Commission investigation into sports, prohibited substances and organised crime that preceded the Cronulla and Essendon doping scandals in the last decade.
According to a source with knowledge of ASADA's Xerri probe, there is a particular interest in the player's family.
The Herald can reveal the Sharks youngster’s 28-year-old brother Troy was sentenced to an aggregate term of five years imprisonment in 2014 over drugs charges.
Troy was initially one of eight men, including two teenagers, who were charged over drugs supply in south-west Sydney eight years ago.
The six-month wait between Xerri's test and notification of his positive sample has frustrated Sharks officials, who have openly questioned whether they would have let Josh Morris walk out on his deal to join the Roosters earlier this year if they had known about the drugs shock earlier.
The 2016 premiers let Morris reunite with his twin brother Brett at the Roosters given they had Xerri and Jesse Ramien as their first-choice centres to start the season and were battling salary-cap pressure.
Cronulla can make an application for salary cap relief to the NRL, which said on Friday it would consider any submission on its merits.
