North Melbourne coach David Noble believes vax-hesitant Kangaroo Jed Anderson will play AFL football in 2022

Jab-hesitant Jed Anderson is training by himself in Darwin, but North coach David Noble says the club is “very hopeful” the “loved” Roo will return to Arden St this season.

North Melbourne remains confident tough midfielder Jed Anderson will play AFL football again this season.

Just over 40 days out from the Kangaroos’ opening round AFL clash with Hawthorn, Anderson remains in Darwin, due to his reluctance to get a second Covid-19 vaccination after suffering a poor reaction to his first dose in mid-December.

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But Kangaroos coach David Noble said he was “very hopeful” the club and the 28-year-old would come to a resolution soon that would see him make a welcome return to Arden St.

“We are hoping we can find a mutual decision for him to come back and play,” Noble told News Corp on Thursday.

Jed Anderson has been resisting the second jab. Picture: Michael Klein

“He is a loved member of our football group. We love the way he plays.

“I think what we have tried to do is care, support and respect what they are working through as a family.

“We would love him to come back and we are hoping we can find a resolution.”

Noble said the club had been in “constant dialogue” with Anderson in recent months.

The hardworking onballer has been following a personal training program in Darwin set by the Kangaroos’ fitness staff.

Under AFL rules, all players must have had double vaccinations to take part in pre-season training.

The Kangaroos revealed in mid-January that Anderson had not received his second dose, saying he was not opposed to vaccines, but was hesitant due to an adverse reaction to the first jab.

North coach David Noble is holding out hope Anderson will play in 2022. Picture: AFL Photos/Getty Images

The availability of the Novavax vaccine – a new protein-based vaccine – from February 21 could change the situation for some vaccine-hesitant sportspeople.

Given the time frame, and the fact he is training away from the main group, it means Anderson may have a slightly delayed start to the 2022 AFL season, if he chooses to have a second jab.

Noble also told News Corp that the club would give much loved Kangaroo Ben Cunnington – who made a brief, inspirational cameo appearance at training this week – as much time as he needed in his cancer fight.

He also said Jaidyn Stephenson was fitter at this stage of the pre-season than he was this time last year, as he looked to “make up ground” after a postseason slip-up.

Dr Sonja Hood will become North Melbourne’s first female president.

Roos unveil first female president as Ben Buckley flags end

—Glenn McFarlane

Lifelong Kangaroos supporter Dr Sonja Hood will become North Melbourne’s first female president when Ben Buckley hands over the reins in the coming months.

Just two months after the Kangaroos became debt-free for the first time since 1987 – a debt that had ballooned out to $9 million almost a decade and a half ago – Buckley said the time was right for change.

His term was meant to run through until the end of this year, but he will transition out of the role, with Hood set to take on the Kangaroos’ presidency before the start of 2022 AFL season.

Hood, who was instrumental in setting up the club’s award-winning community program, The Huddle, has been on the Kangaroos board since late 2019.

Her elevation will mean the AFL has four female presidents, including Richmond’s Peggy O’Neal, Melbourne’s Kate Roffey and Western Bulldogs’ Kylie Watson-Wheeler.

All three of the current female presidents have taken their clubs to Grand Finals in recent years, with O’Neal and Roffey tasting premiership success in their roles.

Buckley, who has been president since late 2016 after taking over from James Brayshaw, told News Corp: “It has been a great honour to have the opportunity to lead this club, but it is the right time to move on.”

Ben Buckley says the time is right to hand over the reins at North. Picture: Nicole Garmston

“The time is right to transition to a new board structure and to give Sonja Hood – who will be the new president – the chance to take the reins and build on the foundations that we have set up over the last four or five years.

“Sonja is an outstanding person. No one is more knowledgeable about North Melbourne’s history, culture and heritage than Sonja.

“Importantly, she has been a champion of the members and the supporters, and she has an extensive network throughout the country. She was instrumental in helping to build what is one of Australia’s best community programs in The Huddle.

“She has worked at the club, she has been a supporter, and now a board member for a number of years, so she will do an outstanding job in leading us into a new era.”

Buckley said it was an important moment in the club’s history to have its first female president.

“Sonja is the best person first and foremost, but I think it is fantastic that she will become the first female president of the footy club,” he said.

“It is a reflection of the diversity that now exists in leadership at our footy club now.”

Hood, far right, was part of the fight to keep North in Victoria.

Dr Hood, who is now CEO of Community Hubs Australia, helped to mobilise Kangaroos members to stop the AFL bid to relocate North Melbourne to the Gold Coast in 2007.

She was the club’s general manager of community engagement from 2010 to 2015.

Buckley said Hood was “committed” to continuing the course that the current board had in terms of the club’s future, including a willingness to keep playing an interim role in Hobart until the Tasmanian Government’s push to have its own team comes to fruition.

He said the club had much to look forward to on and off the field, having erased its once-crippling debt and set the platform under coach David Noble to chase future success.

“We have built on the work that James (Brayshaw) did with Eugene (Arocca) and (Carl) Dilena to help set the foundations for the current board and administration to get us to a point where we are now debt free,” he said.

“We really have to thank them for setting us in the right direction … we’re debt free and have largely completed major upgrades to the facility with more to come, and what’s on the agenda for the Arden Precinct shows it is the right time to transition.

“From a footy perspective, we have had a major restructure take place in our playing list over the last 18 months, as well as a new coach and a new football department structure.”

“If I take the temperature check from supporters and fans, it has been some time since we have seen this level of optimism and excitement.

“But I would reinforce … it takes time and it takes patience, and there will be times when climbing the mountain won’t always be in a straight line. ”