Decree concerns Lo

By PARKER TAMBUA
GARRY Lo and Stargroth Amean may have passed up the opportunity to make coach Michael Marum’s Rugby League World Cup squad after the Kumuls pair chose not to take the Covid-19 vaccine.
The Papua New Guinea Rugby Football League said last month that although voluntary, vaccination was necessary for players and officials who wanted to take part in the 2021 Digicel Cup season.
The sport’s national governing body added that the representative teams, Kumuls and Orchids (women), would need to be vaccinated prior to competing in this year’s World Cup in England.
Unless the approach is relaxed, or Waghi Tumbe flyer Lo and Port Moresby Viper Amean change their minds about the jab, the pair appear destined to sit out the 2021 season and World Cup.
Former Castleford Tiger and Sheffield Eagle Lo told The National yesterday that he left the Tumbe camp last week as he did not want to be vaccinated. “This is unfair, the policy will affect my chances of playing in the World Cup,” said the Kumuls veteran of five Tests. “I talked to my former Sheffield teammates in England and they said that they hadn’t received the vaccine, but their competition had allowed them to play. “Look at (Australia’s) National Rugby League, the English Super League, and New South Wales and Queensland Cup competitions. “None of those competitions came up with such policy, but they continue to play. “My Kumuls teammates who are playing in those competitions, haven’t been vaccinated yet.” The former SP Hunters winger said he was looking forward to using the upcoming season to earn a spot in the World Cup squad. “But now, my dream of playing in another World Cup is shattered,” he said.
“I know that my mate, Amean, is also a victim of this policy.”