Art Vandelay
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James Hooper and Paul Kent believe there are systemic issues that are hurting the Cronulla Sharks’ ability to thrive as a rugby league club.
The Bronson Xerri drugs ban is the latest in a long line of off-field incidents that have damaged the reputation of the club.
“There is something not right at Cronulla,” Hooper said on NRL 360.
“It is not new. It dates back to the peptide scandal and even earlier than that because things just continue to go wrong.
“The salary cap cheating that they were somehow allowed to retain the 2016 premiership. It has been proven that there were cap rorts and underarms and envelopes and all the rest of it going on at the joint at the time.
“The coach at the time Shane Flanagan was suspended for the peptide scandal. He broke his ban and got suspended again. Now he's an assistant at the Dragons.There is something not right at the Sharks.”
Kent questioned the fact that it was a member of the public and not the Sharks that tipped off ASADA about Xerri’s alleged drug use.
“The problem for the club too is how come someone from the public could identify this kid was suspicious, enough to inform ASADA, enough for ASADA to take a look, send a guy along to test him, bust him and yet no one at the club knew,” Kent said.
“That is an issue if they didn’t want to know about it. Someone at the club should have known. If Joe public can see this kid and say he came out of his operation skinny and a month later has turned into the hulk.
“Why isn’t someone at the club being a grown up and saying come here mate we need to have a chat.”
Hooper acknowledged that fans would be furious with he and Kent for pointing out the obvious, but stressed something is systemically wrong at the club.
“We will get accused of Cronulla bashing and being conspiracy theorists and having agendas, but that is rubbish,” Hooper said.
“If you look at the track record of this joint. How many CEOs have they had in the last seven years? Seven or eight.
“The old saying a fish rots from the head. There is something that isn’t right at that club.”
The Bronson Xerri drugs ban is the latest in a long line of off-field incidents that have damaged the reputation of the club.
“There is something not right at Cronulla,” Hooper said on NRL 360.
“It is not new. It dates back to the peptide scandal and even earlier than that because things just continue to go wrong.
“The salary cap cheating that they were somehow allowed to retain the 2016 premiership. It has been proven that there were cap rorts and underarms and envelopes and all the rest of it going on at the joint at the time.
“The coach at the time Shane Flanagan was suspended for the peptide scandal. He broke his ban and got suspended again. Now he's an assistant at the Dragons.There is something not right at the Sharks.”
Kent questioned the fact that it was a member of the public and not the Sharks that tipped off ASADA about Xerri’s alleged drug use.
“The problem for the club too is how come someone from the public could identify this kid was suspicious, enough to inform ASADA, enough for ASADA to take a look, send a guy along to test him, bust him and yet no one at the club knew,” Kent said.
“That is an issue if they didn’t want to know about it. Someone at the club should have known. If Joe public can see this kid and say he came out of his operation skinny and a month later has turned into the hulk.
“Why isn’t someone at the club being a grown up and saying come here mate we need to have a chat.”
Hooper acknowledged that fans would be furious with he and Kent for pointing out the obvious, but stressed something is systemically wrong at the club.
“We will get accused of Cronulla bashing and being conspiracy theorists and having agendas, but that is rubbish,” Hooper said.
“If you look at the track record of this joint. How many CEOs have they had in the last seven years? Seven or eight.
“The old saying a fish rots from the head. There is something that isn’t right at that club.”
