The Adelaide Crows AFLW team may be without a key member of their squad due to her refusal to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
According to reports in The Advertiser, two-time premiership winner Deni Varnhagen is the lone holdout in the Crows’ squad that is otherwise fully vaccinated.
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Varnhagen, who is a nurse, is not currently bound by South Australian law to be vaccinated as an athlete. However, the state’s health authorities have ruled that medical staff must have had their first jab by the start of November.
It is currently not mandatory for AFL or AFLW players in South Australia to be vaccinated, and the sport’s governing body is still finalising its policy towards vaccinations.
However, across the border in Victoria, AFL players are considered essential workers and had until last week to get their first dose of the vaccine.
Crows chairman John Olsen, who is fully vaccinated, said in September that it would be “complicated to run a season” if players weren’t vaccinated.
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The competition begins on January 6, 2022.
“There’s a lot of hard work ahead,” coach Matthew Clarke said after the squad’s first pre-season hit-out on September 30.
“But I think the main thing out of the first session is just to get the group back together and to see them enjoy each other’s company. I think high expectations are a good thing.
“It doesn’t always mean you’re going to have success but I think you want to enter every season with the aspiration of being right up amongst it.”