Wigan Warriors owner and chairman Ian Lenagan has taken the bold step of confirming how many members of the Cherry and Whites’ squad are vaccinated against Covid-19.
A difficult subject to talk about for some, vaccination status has led to questions over certain players’ futures owing to their stance on the jab.
Luke Thompson’s time at Canterbury came under threat due to his opinion on the vaccine whilst fellow Canterbury man John Asiata was released by the Bulldogs and subsequently joined Championship side Leigh.
The current climate in France has made it an even bigger deal. The government across the channel has given the all clear for a vaccine pass meaning anyone wishing to enter a stadium must be vaccinated meaning that unvaccinated players would not be able to take on Catalans and Toulouse next season.
However, that doesn’t appear to be a problem for Wigan with Lenagan confirming that all but one of Wigan’s players are fully vaccinated according to The Wigan Today.
As for the identity of the unvaccinated player, that remains unknown however Lenagan stated that it’s important that players aren’t forced to have the vaccine but are instead persuaded amicably and for the right reasons: “When you’re speaking about religious, cultural or any other reasons, you can’t force but you can persuade. People have their own reasons why they choose not to be vaccinated.
“For a younger player, or even more so for an older one, you want to play every in a season, and we’ve got two games away in Toulouse and Perpignan.”
This was all revealed at Wigan’s media day on Friday and you can see what else Lenagan had to say on the matter at The Wigan Today.
