Canterbury Bulldogs general manager Phil Gould is keeping his cards close to his chest around Bronson Xerri with the expectation he is set to be dropped to the NSW Cup.

Xerri is reportedly disgruntled after being moved to right centre and now his position in the first-grade side is under threat.

Gould had breakfast with Xerri the day after it was reported the 25-year-old could be looking for a release from the club.

READ MORE: Rising stars to cover $2.7m blow; Titans set for major boost

READ MORE: Grim history facing Piastri after dire start to F1 season

READ MORE: Tallis-Broncos feud erupts again after Reynolds injury

On Nine’s 100% Footy, Gould was asked to clarify what was happening and initially offered little.

“Don’t you worry about Bronson, he’ll be right,” he said.

Bronson Xerri NRL Imagery

Watch the 2026 NRL season live and free on Nine and 9Now.

Paul Gallen then put it to Gould that Xerri would be in reserve grade this week and that he couldn’t be all right.

The Bulldogs boss stayed sheepish.

“Team list Tuesday comes out tomorrow, I don’t know, I don’t pick the team,” he said, drawing laughs from the panel.

Cameron Smith, like many former players, said Xerri and the Bulldogs just needed to concentrate on their football.

Gould agreed by offering his longest statement on the matter.

“The biggest thing is you can’t get caught up with the speculation in the media, I can’t control what the media says and what they speculate and we don’t want to buy into it,” he said.

“We know what we’re doing internally, we know what the situation is, we’ll keep working hard for the future and that’s all we need to do.”

100% Footy is now available as a podcast! Subscribe/follow via Apple, Spotify or Google Podcasts 

The Bulldogs play the Raiders on Thursday night, with the team to be announced at 4pm (AEDT) on Tuesday.