{"id":545120,"date":"2026-03-17T00:46:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T00:46:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/545120\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T00:46:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T00:46:14","slug":"josh-morris-and-willie-mason-blast-star-centre-bronson-xerri-future-of-bulldogs-matt-burton-nrl-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/545120\/","title":{"rendered":"Josh Morris and Willie Mason blast star centre Bronson Xerri, future of Bulldogs, Matt Burton, nrl news"},"content":{"rendered":"

Canterbury Bulldogs icons Josh Morris and Willie Mason have teed off on star centre Bronson Xerri after reports emerged on the weekend that he was considering walking out on the club.<\/a><\/p>\n

Watch every game of every round of the Premiership Season LIVE with no ad-breaks during play on FOX LEAGUE, available on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n

Over the past few days, Xerri has found himself at the centre of headlines after it was understood that he is unhappy at the Belmore-based side and was set to be axed to the NSW Cup for this round.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

WHAT’S GAMBLING REALLY COSTING YOU? Set a deposit limit. For Free and confidential support call 1800 858 858 or visit gamblinghelponline.org.au.<\/p>\n

This saw Code Sports reveal that he was poised to request an immediate release from his deal, despite being under contract until the end of 2027.<\/p>\n

Speaking on his Level Networks podcast<\/a>, Willie Mason was blunt about the club-first mentality that Xerri should adopt whilst playing with the Bulldogs and stated that he changed several different positions during his tenure with the club and he never complained.<\/p>\n

The club\u2019s most recent Clive Churchill Medallist, Mason made just under 150 appearances for the club and played a starring role in them winning the NRL Premiership in 2004 – a feat that hasn\u2019t been achieved since.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t just get dropped for nothing. I\u2019m not there with first-grade week in, week out for the last two or three years,\u201d Mason said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve been building and building and the way I see it, they\u2019re building a club first, team first mentality – any position, anywhere.<\/p>\n

Get all the latest news, highlights and analysis delivered straight to your inbox with Fox Sports NRL Sportmail. Sign up now!!! <\/a><\/p>\n

Bronson Xerri almost walks out at Dogs | 09:31<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Willie Tonga had to go from left to right, it ain\u2019t a big deal. If I had to play on the right side and then left-side back-row and then back into the front-row, I don\u2019t give a f***.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause I want to win and I want to play and (it\u2019s) team first, club first. It\u2019s always been the mentality.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen, when you hear the little rumours about Xerri blowing up because he\u2019s playing on the right side instead of the left, it is what it is.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s upset at the positional change and in my head I\u2019m like you\u2019ve just got to suck it up and just get better and be team first and play better footballer and whatever the coach wants from you, you f****** buy in.\u201d<\/p>\n

The future of Bronson Xerri remains clouded.Source: News Corp Australia<\/p>\n

Willie Mason wasn\u2019t the only former Bulldogs icon to weigh in.<\/p>\n

Speaking on The Continuous Call Team Offload podcast<\/a>, former NSW Blues and 217-game Bulldogs centre Josh Morris accused Xerri of lacking resilience when it came to switching which side of the field he wanted to play on.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving to play a different side of the field and cracking the s***s about it. There\u2019s no resilience there,\u201d Morris said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf he did get dropped to reserve grade, well then show some resilience, put in good performances and get back in the team.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese days, players just expect to be first graders. The jersey isn\u2019t yours. You have to perform.\u201d<\/p>\n

All eyes on Burton after Xerri dropped! | 02:01<\/p>\n

Both former players also stated on their podcasts that the Bulldogs were the only NRL team to give him a second chance after he served a four-year ban for performance-enhancing drugs during his first stint in rugby league when he was at the Cronulla Sharks.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had four years out of the game, you would have thought he would have built up a bit of resilience,\u201d Morris added.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Bulldogs gave him the shot when no one else wanted to. And Bulldogs fans don\u2019t forget that either.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to see him stay in the Bulldogs jersey. I think he\u2019s a great player. But we\u2019ll have to see.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Canterbury Bulldogs icons Josh Morris and Willie Mason have teed off on star centre Bronson Xerri after reports…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":545121,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-545120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=545120"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545120\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/545121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=545120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=545120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=545120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}