Melbourne Storm chief executive Justin Rodski says he understands Nelson Asofa-Solomona’s Covid-19 saga may not sit well with Victorians, who will need to disclose their vaccination status on arrival at AAMI Park this season even though Asofa-Solomona has been shielded from having to go public with his own status.
In the off-season, Asofa-Solomona became the NRL’s poster boy for vaccine hesitance. While the NRL does not have a league-wide jab mandate in place, the Victorian government’s requirements meant the Storm forward was banned from attending club facilities and training with his teammates in the pre-season.
Early in February, however, Asofa-Solomona made a stunning return to training, with the club confirming he would be free to line up in round 1 of the 2022 season next month.
The Storm declined to confirm Asofa-Solomona’s vaccination status at the time, and Rodski on Wednesday dropped the biggest hint yet that Asofa-Solomona had been granted an exemption from the jab.
“(Asofa-Solomona) has a vaccination certification that enables him to come to work at AAMI Park and enables him to play, and so from our perspective, he’s ticked every box that he needs to,” Rodski told SEN.
“As a club, we certainly worked through a process that was pretty long and arduous, to be honest.
“In the end, the certification provided, that was approved at federal government level, it was then approved at NRL level and ultimately that provided approval for him in a Victorian sense, in a local sense to be able to come to work and then to be able to play.”
Only the New Zealand Warriors have played less games at home since the start of the pandemic than the Storm, but after lengthy stints living away from home, Melbourne is set to play in front of unrestricted crowds this year.
All attendees at AAMI Park must have had two shots of an approved Covid-19 vaccine, in line with Victorian government policy.
Rodski said it was up to fans to determine whether they felt comfortable disclosing their vaccination status while the status of one of the players they would be watching, Asofa-Solomona, remained under a cloud.
“I think it’s up to others to judge whether or not they should feel comfortable about that,” he said.
Rodski admitted he understood that athletes remaining unvaccinated mightn’t sit well with Victorians, pointing to the public outcry over Novak Djokovic’s entry into the state last month.
“I was watching that with interest,” he said of Djokovic’s Australian Open saga.
“I absolutely understand the sentiment from the broader population, particularly Melbourne and Victoria. That was something that we were mindful of and cautious of.
“Certainly, we’re conscious of making sure that when we did get to the point where that decision needed to be made, we were comfortable with an organisation and that involved multiple stakeholders.”
Rodski said the Storm had no regrets welcoming Asofa-Solomona back to training.
“It was always going to be a sensitive issue, but we’re now comfortable with the position and the decision that we’ve made in terms of creating or providing an opportunity for Nelson to return and to train and to work and to apply force,” he said.
