Frustrated Karl Stefanovic slams the NRL for not forcing players to get vaccinated - while fans will be made to be jabbed to watch games

Karl Stefanovic has hit out at the NRL for refusing to force its players to get a Covid vaccine despite soon requiring spectators to be double-jabbed against the virus.

NRL CEO Andrew Abdo said this week the league was 'in no position' to be making the jab mandatory for the game's biggest stars.

But league officials have backed plans to ban fans from games if they are not vaccinated by the start of next year.

Stefanovic said the NRL should force players to immunise themselves against the virus unless they can prove they have a genuine reason not to get the jab. 

Pictured: NRL players and their families arriving at a Queensland bubble hotel in Coolangatta. Karl Stefanovic has lashed out at the NRL for refusing to force its players to get a Covid vaccine

'Every player who can get should,' the Today show host said. 'There will be some who object to it but we need to send the message out there.'

He said making the jab mandatory would send a message to the rest of Australia about the importance of vaccination.   

'Everyone is in this together and doing it together. Rugby league is a place where so many look,' he said. 

'So exclusions should be based on just medical reasons,' his co-host Allison Langdon asked.

'Yes - and religious reasons are probably valid as well,' he replied. 

Mr Abdo had earlier admitted the league was not prepared to infringe on the right of its players to choose whether or not they receive the vaccine.  

'At no point is a governing body - certainly not one like ours - in  a position to make things mandatory, particularly around where people have basic fundamental rights and choice,' he told 2GB's Wide World of Sports.

Stefanovic said the NRL should force players to immunise themselves against the virus unless they can prove they have a genuine reason not to get the jab

A Pfizer vaccine is administered in Brisbane in August. Stefanovic has called for vaccines to be made compulsory for NRL players to send a message to the rest of Australia about the importance of vaccination

But while the league is not planning to make the jab mandatory for its players, one club official said stars could be forced to live in a permanent Covid bubble if they refuse to get vaccinated.

New guidelines being drawn up by the governing body are said to bring in a two tier system which will see jabbed players enjoying a complete return to normal pre-pandemic life. 

But the players who decline to get vaccinated will be permanently stuck in a lockdown status quo with no relief from current constraints and restrictions. 

NRL insiders believe the system will test just how committed some players are to the sport, and how strongly some feel about their possible opposition to vaccines. 

New guidelines being drawn up by the governing body are said to bring in a two tier system which will see jabbed players enjoying a complete return to normal pre-pandemic life. South Sydney star Benji Marshall is seen here arriving in Coolangatta with wife Zoe and son Benjamin to live under quarantine restrictions in the NRL bubble

'I think the no jab, no play edict is a given eventually. Then we will find out the people who really love rugby league,' one club official said, according to the Daily Telegraph.

'It's a civil right to say no to a vaccine but you can have rules for your own game. We will all have passports soon that will get us on planes and into events.'

The proposal needs to be rubber-stamped by the ARL Commission but is expected to be implemented by the end of this season or early next year.

Venues NSW has meanwhile revealed plans to enforce vaccine passports for spectators wanting to watch sports at NSW stadiums next year.