Ian Lenagan discusses vaccination status of Wigan squad and policy on vaccines

All but one of Wigan Warriors' 2022 squad are fully vaccinated against Covid-19, owner Ian Lenagan has revealed.

Vaccine uptake among Super League players has been high on the agenda in the run-up to the new season, with the Rugby Football League recently revealing the 85 per cent threshold they had set for players to be fully vaccinated in order for scrums to return had been met.

But Lenagan has revealed that Wigan's vaccination rate is practically at 100 per cent, insisting that every member of the Warrriors' squad, with the exception of one player, has had the vaccine.

Lenagan also insisted Wigan would not force any player who did not wish to have the jab to do so. "You can't force, but you can persuade," he said.

"We've got games against Toulouse and Catalans in March, and you want people to be able to play - but people may have their own reasons why they choose not to get vaccinated.

"I've noticed what the NRL are doing with their unvaccinated players, and there's obviously the French scenario too, so everyone has the same problem. But we're in a good place at Wigan and the fact scrums are coming back is a tribute to the vaccination rates."

Some clubs have already admitted that they would consider not signing a player if they had decided against getting the vaccine. Lenagan stopped short of saying that was the case at Wigan but admitted that unless society changes, it will have to be a factor that any club considers when looking at potential players.

"I think common sense says that if you're weighing up a number of factors, it's now part of the consideration," he said. "It's not the dominant one though because, in 12 months, the whole structure will have changed again."