North’s position was that the absolute point of no-return deadline for Anderson was March 9,since that was the last day clubs could bring a replacement recruit on to their list (as a special supplementary player) in place of an inactive player.
Anderson was back in Melbourne on Monday after a lengthy period staying in the Northern Territory,his home state.He and Darling now had the option of taking the newly available Novavax,which is protein-based.
The AFL had set a deadline of last Friday for players to have had the second jab – if they did not,they could not continue to train with their club.Darling could not return to the club program until his second shot,effectively placing him at least three weeks away from full training and making it difficult for him to make the first game.
West Coast’s season opening game (against Gold Coast) is on March 20.
West Coast are expected to placeDarling on the inactive list if he doesn’t agree to vaccination soon. As an inactive player,Darling would receive only a small fraction (25 per cent of the base annual minimum) of his contract,which is worth about $3 million over four seasons.
Both Darling and Anderson have been backed by Tasmanian doctor Russell Cooper,an “integrative medicine” specialist and anti-5G campaigner,in their bids to gain leniency from the AFL,with Darling seeking an exemption to the AFL’s vaccine mandate on medical grounds.