Adelaide Crows AFLW premiership player Deni Varnhagen speaks openly for the first time on fighting the Covid-19 vaccine mandate

Deni Varnhagen made national headlines in 2021 after she became the first top-level footballer to resist the Covid jab. For the first time, she opens up on her reasons – and the fallout.

Deni Varnhagen risked it all to follow her dream of starting a family.

Now a mother to nearly 11-month-old Hali, the Adelaide AFLW player and nurse says she “would do it all again”.

Just under two years ago, the dual Crows AFLW premiership player made national headlines when she told the club she would not have the Covid-19 vaccination – the first top-level Aussie rules footballer to resist having the jab.

This meant Varnhagen, a registered nurse, risked both of her careers by refusing to comply with the vaccine mandates required to play in the AFL and to work in the healthcare system.

At the heart of her resistance and stance were concerns about how the vaccine could impact her fertility.

As she prepares to return to an AFLW game for the first time since the 2021 grand final in the Crows’ clash against GWS in Canberra on Saturday, the 30-year-old says she has no regrets.

Deni Varnhagen and her baby girl Hali Picture: NCA NewsWire / Kelly Barnes

“It has been a pretty big couple of years,” Varnhagen told this masthead.

“I’m just glad to be through the other side of it and being back doing what I love in playing football and nursing and now I have a beautiful family.

“(Hali and the possibility of having her) was a huge reason why I made my decisions and now that I have her I wouldn’t change a thing.

“It was a really, really tough time in life for a number of reasons ... I’m just glad we can move past it now and move forward.

“Everyone has different opinions, I was really lucky that I have an amazing, close family and friends support group who were there for me throughout everything.”

Because of her stance and the publicity it received, Varnhagen became a figurehead in the anti-Covid vaccine movement in South Australia.

She then was part of a Supreme Court challenge to the state’s Covid-19 rules and the mandate that as a nurse she must be vaccinated.

Varnhagen lost, ensuring further exposure.

Varnhagen during a anti-Covid vaccine protest. Picture: Supplied.

And arriving in court in April last year. Picture: Dean Martin

“I was facing losing two jobs that I loved and I had worked really hard for in both careers to get to,” she said.

“So that was shattering but I stood by my morals and my beliefs and I would do it all again. “It makes your skin thicker that is for sure.”

Not that she wanted the attention.

“It even made going food shopping a high anxiety experience,” she said.

“I did not enjoy it at all, I wish it didn’t happen but I wouldn’t change my choices.

“I was just trying to stand up for my rights and the rights of everyone to make their own decisions.”

Hali was born in late October last year.

“She is crazy, she is very cheeky, she is a social butterfly,” Varnhagen said.

“She is now standing up on everything and getting up on everything she shouldn’t.

“The girls love her, I bring her to the club and they love to look after her.”

Varnhagen, middle, training at West Lakes on Friday ahead of her AFLW return. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Kelly Barnes

As for how Varnhagen, who is back as a nurse once a week and had maintained she was not an anti-vaxxer, and partner Jarrad would approach vaccinations with Hali she said:

“Jarrad and I, we put Hali’s health and wellbeing first so that’s what we will do. It is a bit of a private matter, her medical health, like it is for everyone and every parent.”

Varnhagen said her and Jarrad had plans to add to their family “down the track”.

In a bit of a quirk, Varnhagen’s return to the AFLW will be against the Giants, the team she made her first ever appearance for Adelaide against.

Varnhagen, who kept fit during her pregnancy and returned to running in January, said her Crows teammates had been “really welcoming” since her return to the club.

She also said she was excited about being able to return to footy again.

“I’ll just be trying to keep the nerves down,” she said.

“I’m known for being a very nervous person anyway through all of my games, but I’m feeling quite excited at the moment.

“It is nice to go back to a bit of normality and to be treated normal again.”