TWO-TIME St Kilda best and fairest Georgia Patrikios is taking a leave of absence from the club.
St Kilda would not confirm if her absence was due to the AFL’s new COVID-19 vaccination policy, which was released on Thursday afternoon.
The Saints are the only Victorian club who have not confirmed their player vaccination status due to medical confidentiality, however the other seven clubs told womens.afl all their players had received at least one dose.
The 20-year-old has comfortably been one of the Saints' strongest performers over their first two seasons in the competition.
St Kilda provided the following statement to womens.afl.
"Georgia Patrikios is currently taking time away from the club.
"The club is committed to supporting Georgia through this period and will continue to ensure she has access to support and personal welfare services.
"We ask that Georgia’s privacy is respected at this time."
The AFL's new vaccination policy requires players and staff of Victorian clubs to be vaccinated (first dose October 22 and fully vaccinated by November 26) prior to being able to attend their clubs to start or continue their pre-seasons.
Players and staff of the other six AFLW clubs must have their first dose by November 19 and be fully vaccinated by December 17.
