Official Bulldogs sign Bronson Xerri for 2024 season on two-year deal despite doping ban

[TABOO]

I think theres every chance his suspension will be reduced with "time served" taken into consideration.
Theres a lot of NRL players who have done worse and got off lighter.
The club has a good chance of a reduction application being successful. Might even be 2023.

I woould say that is Gus' plan. Explains why Schoupp moved on.

 

[D0GMATIC]

I woould say that is Gus' plan. Explains why Schoupp moved on.

I'm not sure the nrl have the authority to reduce the term of the ban

 

[speedy2460]

I'm not sure the nrl have the authority to reduce the term of the ban

May be right as Asada is involved. But theres always a way around this and Im sure the club knows it.

 

[D0GMATIC]

May be right as Asada is involved. But theres always a way around this and Im sure the club knows it.

Gus will have our best loophole guy on it . . . If there is one,we'll find it

 

[Harry Oz]

Gus will have our best loophole guy on it . . . If there is one,we'll find it

ASADA really does not work that way.
ASADA is a statutory commonwealth body implementing requirements under Australian law which are in turn required under international law.
In 2005 the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) adopted the International Convention against Doping in Sport.
Parties to this Convention (of which Australia is one), are required to implement the World Anti-Doping Code.
The Australian ASADA Act requires implementation of Australia’s international anti-doping obligations including the National Anti-doping Scheme which applies to all contracted rugby league players.
Rugby League players are required to agree to the code through their contract.
Sports like NRL must have an anti-doping code before they can receive government funding.
It is a mistake to think it is possible to find loopholes or to 'game' ASADA or anti-doping requirements, especially penalties.
The best approach is to make sure ASADA is satisfied the club takes its anti-doping obligations very seriously and the players are fully aware of the Code and the consequences of doping.
[Please refer to previous posts].

 

[D0GMATIC]

ASADA really does not work that way.
ASADA is a statutory commonwealth body implementing requirements under Australian law which are in turn required under international law.
In 2005 the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) adopted the International Convention against Doping in Sport.
Parties to this Convention (of which Australia is one), are required to implement the World Anti-Doping Code.
The Australian ASADA Act requires implementation of Australia’s international anti-doping obligations including the National Anti-doping Scheme which applies to all contracted rugby league players.
Rugby League players are required to agree to the code through their contract.
Sports like NRL must have an anti-doping code before they can receive government funding.
It is a mistake to think it is possible to find loopholes or to 'game' ASADA or anti-doping requirements, especially penalties.
The best approach is to make sure ASADA is satisfied the club takes its anti-doping obligations very seriously and the players are fully aware of the Code and the consequences of doping.
[Please refer to previous posts].

Thanks scoop. You've crushed our best loophole guy

 

[Philistine]

.....Sports like NRL must have an anti-doping code before they can receive government funding......

What Government funding does the NRL receive?

The owner of the NRL, the ARLC, is treated as a non-profit organization by the tax department, which means they do not pay one cent in tax. In my book, that is massive (and totally inappropriate) Government funding, but, in the eyes of the decision makers it is not. Do they actually get taxpayers money handed to them?

 

[Harry Oz]

What Government funding does the NRL receive?

The owner of the NRL, the ARLC, is treated as a non-profit organization by the tax department, which means they do not pay one cent in tax. In my book, that is massive (and totally inappropriate) Government funding, but, in the eyes of the decision makers it is not. Do they actually get taxpayers money handed to them?

Yes. Heaps. Direct funding support. Like $100s millions. It's a mini FIFA.

 

[Cappuccino]

New Bulldogs coach Cameron Ciraldo has opened up on why he gave a career lifeline to former Sharks star Bronson Xerri who is serving a four year drugs ban.

Xerri took the NRL world by storm as a 19-year-old at the Sharks back in 2019, scoring 13 tries in 22 games in his one and only season and was touted as a future Origin star by Immortal Andrew Johns.

However, in a stunning fall from grace after his breakout rookie year, Xerri tested positive for illegal substances, including testosterone in the Sharks’ 2020 pre-season and he was eventually banned for four years.

That ban, which changed the course of his sporting career and life comes to an end in November 2023 and the Bulldogs beat a number of clubs to his signature for the 2024 and 2025 seasons.

The Daily Telegraph reported Ciraldo didn’t know Xerri, but after a number of meetings he was convinced the Bulldogs were the right club to give him a second chance.

“I’d never met Bronson,” Ciraldo told The Bye Round Podcast.

“I had a couple of coffees with him and I was really impressed with how open he was about mistakes he has made in the past and how willing he was to make up for those.

“We’re looking for good people and from my interactions with Bronson, he’s a good person.

“That gave me confidence that the person Bronson will be when he comes back to the NRL is the sort of guy you want at the club.

“He deserves a second chance, I’m happy we can give it to him.”


Ciraldo tempered expectations that Xerri could pick up where he left of in terms of on-field performances after four years out of the game and warned there is a lot of work to do to get back to those heights.
“Bronson’s obviously a very talented player, he saw what he did when he came onto the NRL at such a young age,” Ciraldo said.
“But he has a lot of hard work to do to make sure he can realise that talent after four years out.

Ciraldo warned Xerri has a lot of work to do to get back to the heights of his rookie season.Source: AAP

“We can provide him with that when he gets here but at the end of the day it’s up to him.”
Xerri will have to undergo regular drug testing while contracted to the Bulldogs and Ciraldo said the onus was on the former Sharks centre to get the most out of his return to the NRL.
“I think we can help him, and he can help us,” Ciraldo said.
“The game is built on second chances, and Bronson’s got that second chance now. In 12 months time, it’s up to him to make the most of it.”

 

[Bulldog1966]

Coming back at 23 is a hell of a lot better than at 27 or older after a big break from the game.
Optimistic he is a very good get,

 

[Cappuccino]

Bronson Xerri will need to pass a series of drug tests during the next 12 months before the NRL will consider registering his Bulldogs contract, as the banned star steps up his return to rugby league.

Xerri, who earlier this month signed a two-year deal to join the Bulldogs at the end of his ban for taking a performance-enhancing substance, has to return negative samples for his NRL comeback to be cleared for the 2024 season.

The regime is part of Xerri’s path to resuming life as an NRL player and shows the process the 22-year-old will be subjected to before pulling on the blue and white.
The Bulldogs will monitor the results of Xerri’s testing throughout 2023.

The club announced it had struck a deal with the former Sharks speedster to rekindle his NRL career, but it will be subject to several terms and conditions being met, including regular testing, which will need to prove Xerri is free of any banned substances.
While Xerri has openly discussed his ambition to return to the NRL on his social media accounts, the NRL won’t rubber stamp his return until several conditions are met in the final months of his four-year ban.

The NRL is unlikely to give Xerri the green light to return to full-time training with his new teammates until November 24 next year, the expiry of his WADA-imposed ban.
It means he will potentially miss the first few weeks of pre-season training with Cameron Ciraldo’s squad if the Bulldogs don’t make the finals next year and return in early November.

It is unlikely NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo and integrity unit boss Jason King will discuss the Xerri matter until much closer to his return date, but it hasn’t stopped Xerri, hailed as one of the brightest young talents in the game after a scintillating 2019 season as a teenager, from laying the building blocks for his comeback.
Sporting a far more muscular physique, Xerri has continued to work with renowned sprint guru Roger Fabri and has played in the local OzTag competition in the Sutherland Shire recently. The recreational sport isn’t subject to drug testing bans.

Xerri scored 13 tries in just 22 games during his maiden NRL season and wasted little time establishing himself as one of the hottest prospects in the game before his career came crashing down in May 2020, days before the resumption of the competition after a COVID-enforced shut down.

In an interview with the Herald last year before the NRL anti-doping tribunal had handed down its findings, Xerri 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.”

 

[Dingo]

An athlete that went too far. I expect him to kill it for us.

 

[Philistine]

An athlete that went too far. I expect him to kill it for us.

I can't believe the sanctimonious garbage that has been written about this. "Bulldogs sign up known drug cheat" dirtying up both player and club with one click bait headline. A nineteen year old failed a drug test - shock, horror! The real disgrace here is that he got banned for four years. Twelve months would have been fair. Go back a few years and you find Andrew Johns, hall of famer, who was, by all accounts on the gear for his whole career, while his club ran interference for him. Rodney Howe, known to his friends and admirers as the Chemist long before he was busted, got a 22 match ban, which was hardly long enough for the stuff to exit his system, assuming he actually stopped taking it.

 

[Harry Oz]

I was really impressed with how open he was about mistakes he has made in the past and how willing he was to make up for those.

“We’re looking for good people and from my interactions with Bronson, he’s a good person.

“That gave me confidence that the person Bronson will be when he comes back to the NRL is the sort of guy you want at the club.

“He deserves a second chance, I’m happy we can give it to him.”

Good to see Coach Ciraldo publicly back Xerri and his character. Exactly what was needed. Well done media team!

 

[CQDog]

 

[Bulldogs09]

He’s got a pair of my tns @Mutt Dafty

 

[Shreksno1]

You're right. I can see my earlier suggested words could be read as proposing he become an 'advocate'. I didn't really mean it that way. Either way I agree it is unreasonable to expect that of him.

He really just needs to say, with Gus or someone sitting beside him:
"I take full responsibility for my actions. There are no excuses for what I did.
Performance enhancing drugs cannot be justified under any circumstance, are harmful and have no place in sport.
I also thank the Bulldogs for giving me this chance."

That's all. He only has to do that once. The club can take it from there. The media will not let go of this otherwise. We can be 100% sure of that.

The club has a corporate social responsibility (CSR) to make sure there is a clear message.

Powerslide made a good comment too. I've never taken much notice of Sandow or any one else caught using PEDs. But its a good point and the NRL also has a CSR to communicate to young men that hard work is the best way to fitness or whatever they are trying to achieve in life. They're the ones making $$$ out of professional athletes, so they're responsible for making sure the players are good role models.
I'm only buying in to this topic now because I have always supported CB-Bulldogs and the local communities. There are a lot of challenging social issues in the area as I'm sure you know very well, and steroid abuse as a driver of domestic violence is one of them.

This is actually a growing social issue, especially because of the proven links between steroid abuse and domestic violence, assault and general anti-social behaviour...
There is nothing wrong with taking social issues seriously.

I appreciate the positive responses to my posts in this thread.
I probably need to sign-off from the thread. I'm seriously starting to repeat myself.

Bro who the fuck are u ? Why don’t u advocate for it instead of sitting on ur phone or computer bitchjng about another male and his direction in life. Talking about role models, isn’t that what parents are for mate ??

maybe educate yourself on TRT and HRT, before you go making false claims of steroid abuse. Don’t transgenders take a boat load of Roids/anti androgens to “transition”

 

[CrittaMagic69]

He’s got a pair of my tns @Mutt Dafty

He's also got my hat...must've robbed us or something

 

[bulldogsmyte]

I can't believe the sanctimonious garbage that has been written about this. "Bulldogs sign up known drug cheat" dirtying up both player and club with one click bait headline. A nineteen year old failed a drug test - shock, horror! The real disgrace here is that he got banned for four years. Twelve months would have been fair. Go back a few years and you find Andrew Johns, hall of famer, who was, by all accounts on the gear for his whole career, while his club ran interference for him. Rodney Howe, known to his friends and admirers as the Chemist long before he was busted, got a 22 match ban, which was hardly long enough for the stuff to exit his system, assuming he actually stopped taking it.

That's because Johns is a protected species. Remember the More Joyous betting scandal when Johns' explanation was he "embellished" his conversation with the bookie? He wouldn't know what that word meant.

 

[Harry Oz]

Bro who the fuck are u ? Why don’t u advocate for it instead of sitting on ur phone or computer bitchjng about another male and his direction in life. Talking about role models, isn’t that what parents are for mate ??

maybe educate yourself on TRT and HRT, before you go making false claims of steroid abuse. Don’t transgenders take a boat load of Roids/anti androgens to “transition”

You're absolutely spot on. I'm a very proud parent. My kids don't use illicit drugs other than a bit of pot and the occasional acid trip.
One is a community nurse and the other works for Greenpeace. The nurse loves going to Bulldogs games.
Oh, and I suspect they might shoot up some heroin now and then, maybe crack.
But apart from that they don't touch drugs.
Sorry, what was your point again?