NRL reluctant to follow AFL in mandating COVID-19 vaccine

NRL Chief Executive Andrew Abdo has revealed that the governing body will not be mandating a COVID-19 vaccine policy for players but has warned that those who are no vaccinated players will likely be subject to more stringent protocols.

Hours after the AFL mandated that its players will have to be vaccinated by mid-February, Abdo said the NRL will be taking a different approach.

The NRL has been grappling with mandatory vaccinations since the resumption of the 2020 season when several high-profile players expressed reluctance to be immunised.

Despite many businesses and rival codes mandating employees to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, Abdo said the NRL would leave it up to the players, telling Channel 7 “clearly we need to make sure we have continuity to the competition, and we are creating a safe working environment.

“We are busy working on the protocols for the players who are vaccinated and the players that are not vaccinated. Hopefully we are talking about a very small group of players. They will have, I’d imagine, some pretty rigorous requirements around what they will be able to do in order to train and play.”

However, Abdo acknowledged that the public health orders of state governments or airlines may force the NRL to change its approach, stating “of course this might be taken out of our hands by health orders or by airlines, so there will be repercussions for those that don’t choose to be vaccinated but it’s not our approach as a governing body to mandate it.

“Between now and the end of the off-season we will have a very clear set of guidelines for how the clubs and players can get back to training safely for those who are vaccinated and those who aren’t yet vaccinated.”

Abdo claimed some clubs had close to 90% of players and staff vaccinated with the governing body’s own staff up to 98%.

Abdo also revealed the NRL is working on one set of protocols for vaccinated players and another “rigorous” set for unvaccinated players.

He went on to state “in terms of answering the really hard question - what is our formal policy going to be for the new season? - the (Australian Rugby League) Commission has made this clear; we’re not taking an approach of making this mandatory, consistent with the way the federal and state governments are

“It’s definitely not mandatory to be vaccinated. However, we need to make sure in continuing the competition that we’re creating a safe working environment.”

The Sydney Roosters have previously advised of plans to ban unvaccinated fans from NRL fixtures in 2022.