Vaxxed players AFL’s lifeline

THE AFL’s new vaccination policy will not mandate player vaccinations but the league believes players will overwhelmingly follow health advice to allow the competition to continue next year.

The league is expected to reveal its policy next week after briefing the AFL Commission next Monday.

There is a view among clubs the 2022 season might be more challenging than this given the flood of Covid-19 into communities as restrictions ease and the likelihood of players testing positive.

The Herald Sun understands the AFL will have rules that give vaccinated players freedoms that unvaccinated players will not have.

AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan said the league’s challenges would continue next year given the pandemic still had a year or more to run.

New competition management boss Laura Kane has a portfolio that includes Covid-19 management after spearheading the vaccination of the Kangaroos football department in her role at the club.

She believes players understand they must be vaccinated to play next year even if there is not a league-wide mandate.

“I think there’s a way to go,” she said of an AFL mandate.

“We are just encouraging people to get vaccinated on their own accord. The competition understands the positive impact our game has on people at home, and it’s not lost on us that we have been able to continue working, continue training, continue our jobs every day to really make people happy.

“To that end, people understand the responsibility they have to encourage everyone to get vaccinations, and hopefully keep the show going on.”

In the NFL there is weekly Covid-19 testing for vaccinated players and staff, but daily testing for unvaccinated players, including on days off.

If an unvaccinated player misses tests they cannot enter a facility without five days of negative tests.

Players who return positive tests need to have two negative tests 24 hours apart, but unvaccinated players who test positive must quarantine for at least 10 days.

Unvaccinated players cannot gather in groups of more than three outside the club or while travelling, cannot leave team hotels to eat at restaurants, and cannot mingle with the public.

McLachlan said on Thursday most AFL players were on board with vaccinations.

“They see the path forward to normality, and they see the framework laid out, and many of our players are already vaccinated,” he said.