News Vaccine stance a major sticking point for Bulldogs

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Spoonman84

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A tale of two Lukes – Brooks and Thompson – has the potential to impact several NRL clubs, and shake up the game, this week.

Luke Brooks is being positioned to leave Wests Tigers, with his management saying he would prefer not to be coached by Michael Maguire. He has been linked with the Bulldogs and the Knights.

Luke Thompson’s situation is potentially more explosive. He has been butting heads with Bulldogs management about COVID vaccination. He has told them a number of times that he does not want to be vaccinated. He didn’t even want to wear a mask in Brisbane when players were required to do so after the competition was relocated to Queensland.

I revealed a few weeks ago on Channel Nine news that Bulldogs players were told they had to be double vaccinated by the start of pre-season training on November 1.


I sent Thompson questions about his opposition to vaccinations, but received no reply. Bulldogs chief executive Aaron Warburton also declined to comment.

Canterbury would be happy if Thompson took his attitude towards COVID elsewhere. One of Thompson’s best mates is Wests Tigers UK recruit Oliver Gildart. I’ve been told Gildart has been trying to recruit Thompson to the Tigers, without much luck.


And this is where the two Lukes are linked. If Thompson moved on, there would be money for Brooks at Belmore. It is my understanding that Brooks would be happy to be coached by Trent Barrett. The Tigers have specialist halfback Jackson Hastings counting down the minutes in quarantine after his return from the UK Super League.

The other issue for the Bulldogs is they already have a No.7, Kyle Flanagan. Even if they wanted Brooks – and got him at a discounted rate – the Bulldogs would still have more than $1.3million tied up in the two halfbacks. That’s a big drain on their salary cap.

 

Spoonman84

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Please keep this thread on topic about Thompson and not derail things with personal opinions about covid or vaccinations. There’s a covid thread in the lounge.

Anyone getting off topic will get banned from the thread.
 

CroydonDog

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Please keep this thread on topic about Thompson and not derail things with personal opinions about covid or vaccinations. There’s a covid thread in the lounge.

Anyone getting off topic will get banned from the thread.
Bit hard to comment on a thread about a player not getting vaccinated, without giving our thoughts on vaccinations? :grinning:

But anyway, Thompson can piss off if he wants to be so special.
 

Spoonman84

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Bit hard to comment on a thread about a player not getting vaccinated, without giving our thoughts on vaccinations? :grinning:

But anyway, Thompson can piss off if he wants to be so special.
Thompson and his stance on vaccination is fine but personal opinions and conspiracy theories about vaccinations belong in the covid thread. It’s not that hard to work out.
 

diddly

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Im not aware of the implications for a player if they are not vaccinated - do things change from Dec 1 - he must be very limited in his daily life not being vaccinated - maybe he would be better off back in England.
Would another club want to sign a player who refuses vaccination?

Just quickly read the roadmap - seems that from Dec 1 everyone is equal no restrictions in NSW
 
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Suave

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It's going to be hard to comment on this without getting into my own personal opinions on vaccine mandates. I'll keep it to 2 quick points though: The Bulldogs aren't alone in this sort of conundrum in terms of world sport, it's happening everywhere - NBA being a prime example of some teams being potentially forced to consider trading star players due to vaccine mandates in specific states (i.e Brooklyn Nets with Kyrie Irving). The 2nd thing I'll say is I wish we didn't enforce this on our own players given the NRL themselves has come out and said they won't mandate it. I say this as someone who isn't a conspiracy theorist and someone who is vaccinated. I believe in freedom of choice and I'll leave it at that (hopefully I'm not skirting too close to a ban on that one but won't comment further on this forum on that particular point).

On Brooks, he's a better option at 7 than what we have I believe. His game definitely hasn't progressed for a few years but a change of scenery might mean we get the best out of him. I really hope it isn't Thompson who's sacrificed to get him though just as he's finding his feet in the NRL.
 

Moedogg

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Luke Brooks has been around for close to a decade and hasn't done shit for the tigpies. I still can't forget his effort against Meaney in round 25, worst player on the field on that day. We've got problems if we're trying to make space for a player like Brooks.
 

Roger the alien

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Pretty sure you have to be vaxed if you want to travel , so what happens when you play warriors , storm and brisbane teams also how do you get home to England.
Exactly..... the article doesn't make sense, so he doesn't wanna get vaxed to play for us but he'll magically get vaxed to play for the tigers?
 

Cook

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Pretty upsetting. If this is only player to cause disruption though, it’s a good result for club. If he was to move on, we still need to find another prop surely. Leftover cash could go elsewhere.
 

ATT

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In my opinion Thompson is a gun. But. I may be wrong. Arent airlines and Melbourne saying they only want vaccinated people on airlines or sport?
If so what does that mean for travel to play other teams? And how does he get there?
I don’t want loose him from the team. But maybe it’s best for the team if he can only play some games that he head home.
In saying that he should be able to decide what he does with his body. As I’m the end of the day the club is a football club. Not a Ethnic club
 
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