AFLW 2022: All the latest news out of the women’s league
Unvaccinated AFLW premiership Crow Deni Varnhagen has reacted to the decision to drop vaccine mandates for footy’s elite competitions.
Unvaccinated AFLW premiership Crow Deni Varnhagen has celebrated the AFL lifting its vaccine mandate, saying it shows respect for “people’s right to choose”.
The league has officially dropped its staunch vaccination mandate which had required players and staff to have had at least two doses of an approved Covid vaccine to train and play.
The league wrote to clubs on Thursday to say it is now “strongly encouraging” all AFL and AFLW players and industry figures to have an up-to-date vaccine status, after consulting with industry groups and the league’s chief medical officer.
Varnhagen, 29, was the first known player to resist getting the vaccine – informing the Crows last October.
She was then placed on Adelaide’s inactive list, as per the AFL’s vaccination policy, and will remain on it for the upcoming season with Varnhagen expecting a child in October.
But Varnhagen will be able to return to action next year after the AFL’s decision on Thursday.
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She told The Advertiser she was thrilled at the news.
“I’m very pleased the AFL has finally taken this step,” the two-time flag winner said.
“I’m overjoyed for players like Liam Jones, who can now return to the sport they love.
“It’s pleasing to see we are moving forward and learning to live with Covid while respecting bodily autonomy and people’s right to choose.”
The move comes as AFL clubs ramp up their Covid response in the wake of a spike in cases, with some clubs now requiring any visitors on-site to complete a rapid antigen test before entering and masks to be worn.
AFL general manager of football Andrew Dillon said the league maintained that vaccinations remain the best defence, and that the situation will continue to be monitored.
“The health and safety of our players, staff and the wider community has been one of the guiding principles governing the AFL’s ongoing response to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic,” Dillon said.
“Our AFL industry has continued to adapt to the circumstances in front of us, and while we have removed the mandatory vaccine mandate, we still maintain the view that vaccinations are the best form of defence in minimising the impacts of Covid with the focus now on keeping “up to date” with all recommended boosters.
“We will continue to monitor the Covid situation as it evolves. If we need to adjust over the coming weeks and months, we will do so in consultation with the respective governments and medical professionals.”
AFL Players’ Association chief executive Paul Marsh said that the policy should continue to be considered in line with any government changes. “The AFLPA reiterates our belief in the importance of vaccination and strongly encourages players, and the industry, to stay up to date with their Covid-19 vaccinations to protect themselves, their family and the community and are proud of the players’ collective efforts so far,” he said.
No.1 pick’s daunting travel schedule
– Marc McGowan
No.1 draft pick Montana Ham will commute weekly between Melbourne and Sydney to juggle her year 12 studies with being the face of the Swans’ AFLW present and future.
The 18-year-old prodigy led Sydney’s women’s team out for its first training sessions on the SCG on Monday night, with the club’s male footballers on hand for the historic moment.
It came only weeks after the Scott Gowans-coached Swans pinched Ham, a 179cm midfielder who thrives in the contest, from Victorian rivals with a successful pitch for her to nominate in the NSW draft pool.
She will return to Melbourne next week and go back and forth throughout the AFLW season, with Sydney’s round 1 game on August 27 against St Kilda at North Sydney Oval.
“I have a trainer at home that they are giving all my programs to, so I’ll do my training down in Melbourne,” Ham told News Corp.
“Every Friday I’ll fly up to Sydney and do Friday and Saturday trainings here at the club before flying back for school.
“I have a really good support network around me, and my school (Overnewton Anglican Community College) has been great as well.
“They’ve helped me strike the right footy-school balance and obviously school comes first. Scott is so understanding of that.”
Swans recruit Lisa Steane coaxed Ham to the front of the queue as the AFLW’s newest side ran out for training on Monday night, and the teenager said it was something she would “always remember”.
Ex-Giant Steane and former Western Bulldog Brooke Lochland, in particular, have taken Ham under their wing since she was drafted.
Ham, who played in the NAB League for the Western Jets, was a player in demand after being named most valuable player for Victoria Metro and in the national Academy side’s clash with the under-23 All-Stars.
Gowans and Sydney’s AFLW football boss Kate Mahony swept the young gun off her feet when they visited her at home in the weeks before the June 29 draft.
The city’s proximity to beaches sealed the deal for Ham.
“There’s something very special about the Bloods culture and what they’ve been through,” Ham said.
“Being part of that first girls’ team and able to establish our trademark and our values as a club was very exciting, too, so there’s something very special about being part of that.”
Ham will wear No.18 in honour of her late father Roy, whose birthday was May 18.
She plans to study a bachelor of sport and exercise science at the University of Technology Sydney from next year
Same captain, new name
—Lauren Wood
Just the look of her new name emblazoned on Carlton’s social media pages caught Kerryn Peterson off guard.
For Carlton captain Peterson – who you might recall more familiarly as Harrington – the busiest six months of her life is about to launch into a second crack at AFL Women’s for 2022.
New name, new-look team, new season.
The 30-year-old could be forgiven for being a little exhausted at the prospect.
After Covid ravaged last AFLW season, its fixture thrown into chaos and players forced to pivot on short notice to rescheduled games and trips interstate, Peterson was also in full wedding-planning mode as her May nuptials loomed.
Ever calm, the Blues defender didn’t mind the relative chaos that led up to her trip down the aisle to sports broadcaster beau Joel Peterson, with the pair married just outside of Bendigo.
Then came the weigh up – to stay Harrington, for AFLW at least, or take the jump.
“When I saw the media release (announcing my re-signing), it looked a little bit odd,” Peterson laughed.
“The (club) media manager even questioned it. It’s probably more other peoples’ reactions.
“The whole year’s just gone in a flash. We had the back-end of the season and then rolled straight into wedding mode and didn’t have a lot of time off between the end of the season and (this one).
“This whole year has been a continuation of one thing to the next.”
The pair are building a house, too, with border collie Daisy on board for moving day in a few weeks’ time.
“We didn’t do anything by half, but it’s been enjoyable,” the Blue said.
“People kept asking me if I was stressed, but I’m just enjoying what it is and still being able to train for footy and having the upcoming season so close provided a bit of a distraction as much as anything else. It’s been really enjoyable.”
The wedding fell smack-bang in the middle of an expansion signing period and sign and trade period like few others.
As four new teams prepare to enter AFLW, player movement was front and square with star Blue Maddy Prespakis one of the first to make the jump, to cross-town rival Essendon.
Her close mate Georgia Gee joined her.
While Peterson had hoped for a Round 1 face-off with her former teammates, she won’t have to wait long with a Round 2 clash booked for North Port Oval.
Lauren Brazzale, Grace Egan, Courtney Jones, Nicola Stevens and Charlotte Wilson also joined rival clubs, but Peterson is level-headed about what from the outside had been viewed as a raft of key departures.
“There’s always more to the story than what’s portrayed,” she said.
“From our perspective, going through the experience of the expansion last time the league went through it, as a playing group and as a club we were really prepared for what it was going to be.
“Don’t get me wrong – it’s disappointing when players are choosing to leave a club that we’ve established the brand of football we were playing at the back-end of last season and the level of excitement that surrounds our group moving forward.
“No one’s here saying we’re happy to lose players. But on the other hand, when the league is going through an expansion phase, and there’s encouragement of player movement across the competition.”
If anything, she said she’d “probably be a bit concerned if expansion clubs weren’t looking at our players”.
“We’re disappointed, but it was inevitable.”
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Phoebe McWilliams comes up the highway from Geelong and “excitement machine” Amelia Velardo from Collingwood, and with 23 players from last season having re-signed, Peterson is adamant that those that have stuck fat are all on a united path.
“We’re trying to build something together. That gives me great confidence that the players we have recommitted desperately want to be part of what we’ve got,” she said.
“I’m not focusing individually on who’s not here – I’m committed to focused and giving my everything I’ve got to the players that have chosen to be part of this group and to be part of what we’ve got moving forward.”
Originally published as AFLW 2022: All the latest news out of the women’s league
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