Making the most of Canterbury and Phil Gould’s career lifeline is Xerri’s determination to become the next in a long line of rugby league comeback stories.
This is the reason the 23-year-old is embracing his new moniker, which Bulldogs captain Reed Mahoney pointed out to Xerri during a Thursday morning interview at Belmore with foxsports.com.au.
Xerri grinned sardonically and reiterated that he would not take his second opportunity lightly, thinking back to the times he nearly lost the game.
It was up and down for me; at one point, I was like, ‘nah, I am giving away the game,'” Xerri said to foxsports.com.au when asked if he felt he would ever return to the NRL. Occasionally, I’ll say to myself, “No, I have to go back.”
“I’m grateful for the opportunity and happy to be here, and I’m going to grab it with both hands.”
After his suspension, Xerri struggled with his mental health; he has openly discussed these struggles, calling the first two years of his suspension “down and out.”
He explained, “I pretty much just stayed at home and kept in my little shell because I suffered pretty bad with my mental health.”
“I actually started working as a carpenter on a job site for a few months after that, and in the last two years, I just started training with Roger (Fabri) to get my life back on track.”
However, Xerri explained that through his adversity he learnt a number of big life lessons, including being appreciative for the life of an NRL player.
Before he was suspended, Xerri was one of the rugby league’s most gifted players. At just 19 years old, he scored 13 tries for the Sharks in 22 games.
Even though Andrew Johns thought he would become an immortal in the future, he needed two shoulder surgeries after his rookie year and would soon need a third.
“You don’t really know what you had until something is taken away from you,” Xerri said in reference to gratitude.
“The most important lesson I’ve learned is thankfulness. Upon returning, I’m even more appreciative to be here and in this circumstance.
“I wish no one to go through that, and I didn’t want to go through it just to learn what I had to about myself, but it is what it is and everything happens for a reason.
“I’m here and I just have tunnel vision and I’m ready to look forward… when times get tough on the field doing physical work I always just go back to doing work on the job site and how hard it was.
“It comes back to gratitude, I’m just so grateful to be here again and to be given that second opportunity… I learnt a lot about myself and I think I’ve grown a lot. I was 19-years-old too, so I’ve learnt a lot and I learnt who my true friends are.”
Xerri went on to express his love for the Bulldogs, a club he had only spent a handful of months at during the club’s 2024 pre-season to kick off his two-year contract.
Xerri, a former Moorebank Junior, was signed by Harold Matthews of Cronulla after playing for the Canterbury-Bankstown Under 13s development squad.
Following a difficult time during which Xerri struggled with depression, Bulldogs captain Gould shone brightly.
It was only recently that the gun center signed with manager Matt Desira, who promptly let him know that Gould wanted to meet to talk about perhaps going back to the sport.
“He (Gould) had a coffee with my manager and this was only recently when I signed with my manager, he gave me a call and said ‘Gus wants to meet you’,” Xerri recounted.
“It just built my spirits and I was so happy, I couldn’t wait until the next morning to go and see him. From the first meeting I was pretty much sold.”
