AFL news: West Coast board to meet on Wednesday over Jack Darling vaccine hesitancy

As West Coast’s board prepares to decide Jack Darling’s future, Dom Sheed says while it is hard to support his teammate’s vax stance, the Eagles players’ hold no grudges.

West Coast premiership midfielder Dom Sheed insists he is not disappointed with unvaccinated forward Jack Darling despite it being “hard” to support his stance.

The Eagles remain unsure about whether Darling will get vaccinated against Covid-19 in time to play in Round 1, or at all, with injuries to Oscar Allen (foot) and Jamie Cripps (pectoral) making the situation more critical.

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They experimented with key defender Tom Barrass playing in attack on Friday night but Sheed said they had not yet decided to move on without Darling, even though the clock was ticking.

“It’d be nice to have some clarity but at the moment, as a player, all we can focus on is what we can do as a team and what’s going on is a bit bigger than the players,” Sheed said.

“We’ve just got to roll with the punches and let the club deal with that.

“Jack’s, obviously, very hard to replace. I think every team in the competition would struggle to replace a Jack Darling. We’d love to have him, but, unfortunately, that’s not the case.”

Unvaccinated West Coast star Jack Darling continues to train away from the club. Picture: Supplied

Sheed pointed to Barrass, Jake Waterman and even 196cm East Perth sharpshooter Tyler Keitel, who is trying to win one of West Coast’s vacant list spots, as forward options if Darling doesn’t return.

Former Fremantle forward Hugh Dixon is another player fighting for an AFL lifeline.

Sheed said Darling’s vaccination call was a “personal decision” and he and his teammates held no grudges

“He’s working through some things at the moment and, as a playing group, we support him,” Sheed said.

“It’s between him and the club at the moment. The players support him and reach out to him where possible, but I wouldn’t say we’re disappointed. It’s his choice.

“Everybody’s got a decision whether they want to get the vaccine or not, and he’s decided not to. So, I don’t think that we can be disappointed in that.

Dom Sheed says Jack Darling still has his fellow Eagles players’ support. Picture: Michael Klein

“We support him in what he wants to do. It’s hard to support his decision, but we support him as an individual.”

Sheed said the hope was Allen would get out of his moon boot this week, which would be ahead of schedule, but Cripps was expected to miss the first month of the season.

Sam Petrevski-Seton (knee) and Greg Clark (AC joint) are the latest additions to an injury list that includes Luke Shuey (hamstring) and Liam Duggan (knee), while others have had interrupted pre-seasons.

“Just because we have maybe 30 players available; that’s not a reflection of how we’re going to be Round 1,” Sheed said.

“I think a lot of blokes are going to come back within that month, and hopefully they’re fit enough to put on the park and play but this just gives great opportunity for our younger players to step up and play a role.

Darling’s Eagles future hangs on board meeting

—Eliza Reilly

West Coast could have fewer than 30-listed players to select from for Friday night’s pre-season practice match against Fremantle as the injury blows continue to mount less than a month out from round one against Gold Coast.

It comes as the Eagles board prepares to meet on Wednesday to discuss their options for vaccine-hesitant forward Jack Darling.

West Coast could weigh up whether to give Darling more time to comply with the AFL vaccination mandate or risk being moved to the club’s inactive list, costing him the bulk of his pay.

The 29-year-old has already missed two AFL deadlines.

Darling has been unable to train at the club since the deadline for his first Covid jab passed on January 21 and Friday marked the day all WA based players had to receive their second vaccination.

The key forward’s absence compounds several injury concerns at the Eagles as they prepare to face Fremantle in the first of two pre-season clashes on Friday afternoon.

Jack Darling’s future is still under a cloud.

Recruit Sam Petrevski-Seton and mature-age draft selection Greg Clark are West Coast’s latest injury woes.

Petrevski-Seton had to be assisted from the ground during the first half of the Eagles intraclub match last Friday after landing heavily in a marking contest.

While Clark emerged with his shoulder in a sling, a reoccurrence of a shoulder injury he sustained in the 2021 WAFL grand final.

Petrevski-Seton allayed some fear his knee injury may not be as severe as first thought, running laps at training on Monday while Clark was absent as a smaller than usual group of Eagles hit the track Mineral Resources Park.

Jack Darling’s future could be sorted on Wednesday.

The latest pair of blows come as captain Luke Shuey (hamstring), key forward Oscar Allen (foot), forward Jamie Cripps (chest) and defender Liam Duggan (knee) continue to recover from injury.

Willie Rioli has been on light duties of late after two years out of the game while Callum Jamieson, Zane Trew, Xavier O’Neill and Luke Edwards have also had interrupted pre-seasons.

West Coast’s numbers could be boosted by their collection of train-ons, with East Fremantle’s Hugh Dixon and West Perth’s Tyler Keitel still fighting to prove their worth as key forwards.

Logan Young, Tom Joyce, Luke Strnadica, Kade Dittmar Tom Blechynden and Toby McQuilkin have also tried their luck at West Coast across the pre-season.

The format of Friday night’s game, including the number of players and game length, will be determined by West Coast and Fremantle.

ANDERSON BACK IN MELBOURNE AS VAX DECISION LOOMS

Glenn McFarlane and Jon Ralph

North Melbourne midfielder Jed Anderson flew back to Melbourne on the weekend in the clearest indication he plans to take the Novavax vaccine order to revive his AFL career.

Anderson’s AFL career has been hanging tenuously in the balance for the past two months after he was hesitant to take a second Covid vaccine after having an adverse reaction to the first dose he received in mid-November.

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North Melbourne is yet to be told officially that he will take the vaccine — paving the way for an AFL return — but it is understood his decision to fly back has given the club a strong indication he is not prepared to give up his AFL career.

Anderson had remained in Darwin throughout the pre-season with the Kangaroos imposing a deadline of February 21 for him to make a decision on whether he would be prepared to take the protein-based Novavax, which became available in Australia in recent days.

Anderson, 28, has yet to present to the club’s Arden St base, but his presence in Melbourne indicates that he may be willing to take the Novavax vaccine.

Jed Anderson has returned to Melbourne as a decision looms on his playing future. Picture: Getty Images

The club, which has been speaking with him on an almost daily basis, will continue talks with him in the coming days in the hope of a resolution soon.

The vaccine-hesitant Anderson has been in Darwin throughout the pre-season, having trained alone with a personal program designed by the club’s high performance team.

Anderson’s imminent return to North Melbourne leaves Jack Darling as the only holdout at AFL level after the departures of Liam Jones (Carlton) and Cam Ellis-Yolmen (Brisbane).

While Anderson faces a fight to reclaim his first-choice midfielder status, he remains one of the club’s toughest midfielders.

In his best season in 2020 he ranked sixth across the AFL for pressure playing 81 per cent midfield and 19 per cent forward.

In that season he averaged 29 possessions per 100 minutes in a season with shorter game times, also averaging 7.1 tackles, 6.1 clearances, 13.5 contested possessions and 6.1 score involvements per 100 minutes.

The Roos will need his tough brand of football as star Ben Cunnington returns from cancer but have an impressive midfield that includes Jy Simpkin, Tarryn Thomas, Luke Davies-Uniacke, Tom Powell, Will Phillips and new recruit Hugh Greenwood.

Ellis-Yolmen told News Corp over the weekend he could not bring himself to get any of the vaccines despite not strictly being anti-vax, not prepared to compromise his principles.

A decision on Jack Darling’s future is about to come to a head. Picture: AFL Photos/Getty Images

West Coast is so desperate to find a key position forward with Darling’s fate uncertain that they tried full back Tom Barrass as a centre half forward in a Friday night trial.

Despite suggestions Darling might at some stage be prepared to take the novavax vaccine he is yet to do so and a decision on his future is also coming to a head this week.

He would sacrifice up to $500,000 of his 2022 salary if he was put on the inactive list by West Coast in a decision that would also smash their chances of a successful season.

The Eagles are already dealing with a foot hot spot to emerging star Oscar Allen and have a long injury list to players including captain

Darling’s decision to take himself out of the West Coast program and train by himself on medical grounds means those close to him are still unsure about his decision.

If he does not take a Covid vaccine in coming days — with a second dose to follow three weeks later — he would already put paid to his chances of playing in the early rounds of the season.

His West Coast premiership teammate Will Schofield wrote in a Code article on Monday Darling should feel entitled to stand out of the entire 2022 season if he was prepared to stick to his convictions.

Darling’s wife Courtney and his mother in law are strongly vaccine hesitant, with his mother-in-law attending anti-vaccine rallies in the state.