Deni Varnhagen returns to active AFLW football after vaccination challenge

AFLW player and nurse Deni Varnhagen will return to active elite football, more than a year after she was stood down for refusing to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

The Adelaide Crows have announced the 30-year-old, who recently welcomed her first child, has returned to the side’s active playing list ahead of the AFLW’s season eight, which will begin later this year.

Varnhagen was placed on Adelaide’s inactive list in late 2021, after failing to meet the league’s vaccination policy, and remained on the list after announcing she was pregnant.

The defender — who has been a registered nurse for seven years, and will rejoin teammates for training in the coming weeks — recently lost a second bid to challenge the South Australian vaccine mandate for healthcare workers.

In a statement, the Crows said they were pleased to welcome her back from the inactive list, saying that the squad would “benefit from Varnhagen’s experience”.

“Deni is a proven performer who knows what it takes to achieve success at the elite level and importantly, she has maintained her fitness and conditioning while away from the club,” Crows Women’s head of football Phil Harper said.

“Having missed the past two seasons, albeit they were in the same calendar year, she will immediately strengthen our squad as we look to once again challenge strongly in the finals.”

Varnhagen’s return comes as injured midfielder Hannah Button — who will undergo surgery after tearing her anterior cruciate ligament during a training session last week — is shifted onto the inactive list.

The Crows have delisted utility player Jasmyn Hewett, who has been prevented from playing because of “work commitments as an aviation rescue firefighter in Darwin”.

“Jas has made the difficult decision to put her AFLW career on hold while she focuses on her aviation firefighter career, as she knows she would not be able to give football her all,” Harper said of Hewett, who played 16 AFLW games and was a member of the 2022 premiership team.

“We have let Jas know that she is always welcome back at Adelaide if she ever has the chance to return to AFLW.”