Until Tapine receives a government exemption, he will not be able to play in Queensland or Victoria. The Raiders play Taumalolo’s Cowboys in Townsville in round two, then the Warriors in Redcliffe in round eight.

“I’ll see what goes on and look at all the regulations,” Tapine said. “At the end of the day, my wife [Kirsten] and I will sit down and make a decision about what I want to do.

“I’ve had COVID already. I think that has natural immunity. I’m not scared of getting it, but I know it affects people that might have bad health, so I have to be careful of that. Sometimes people get scared of people who are unvaccinated, so I have to be aware of that as well.”

Tapine said there had been no issues with his Maori teammates, and they were already adhering to strict protocols. The Maori All Stars are sharing the same hotel at Sydney Olympic Park as the Sri Lankan cricket team.

Tapine was honoured to lead the Maoris last year, and will do the job again with Kodi Nikorima on Saturday night against the Indigenous All Stars.

His wife is a proud Gamilaroi woman, but wore a Maori All Stars jersey last year. Tapine said she would side with her husband again at CommBank Stadium.

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Maori teammate Dylan Walker confirmed he had been vaccinated, but initially held off as he did his own research. Not long after he received the jab, a one-year extension with Manly was rubber-stamped.

“I looked into it and wanted to read about [vaccinations], but I’m vaxxed now,” Walker said. “They [Manly] knew my history, I told them, ‘This is a commitment [I’ve made] for myself’, and nobody is making me do it, but I wanted to do my own research. That was it.

“I still haven’t had COVID yet. I’m one of the few that hasn’t. I’ll keep the head down and train hard.”