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Unvaccinated players could cause the NRL a mid-season conundrum as their medical exemptions potentially expire.

Those who have obtained temporary exemption from being vaccinated against COVID-19 will be forced to miss matches later in the year unless they get the jab.

It could lead to a tricky situation for the likes of North Queensland captain Jason Taumalolo and Melbourne prop Nelson Asofa-Solomona, whose vaccination statuses remain unknown.

The league hasn't mandated vaccination like the AFL but state rules require players to be double-jabbed to enter Queensland and Victorian stadiums.

Exemptions can be sought for reasons including a medical contraindication or a COVID-19 infection, which allows vaccination to be deferred by four months.

Taumalolo and Asofa-Solomona have been cleared to start the season but could be sidelined down the track if it turns out they obtained exemptions due to contracting COVID-19.

While the vast majority of NRL players are immunised, a handful remain hesitant.

Canberra forward Joe Tapine told The Sydney Morning Herald this week that he's yet to be jabbed, citing "reactions to past vaccinations", and had not received an exemption.

Tapine can currently play home matches in the nation's capital and away games against NSW-based clubs but will have to stay behind when the Raiders go to Queensland or Melbourne.

Vaccinated players, meanwhile, are now enjoying more relaxed protocols allowing them to attend events like birthday parties, weddings and funerals without permission.

They can also freely attend restaurants, cafes and bars, but groups of three or more players and/or staff from the same club cannot congregate together in indoor settings.

"We certainly don't want the players living in bubbles any longer, just like the community," NRL CEO Andrew Abdo said.

"We have to think about continuity differently. The rapid antigen testing is critical and that's happening every day."

The NRL is continuing to promote vaccination amongst the public. A pop-up booster shot clinic will be open at CommBank Stadium from 4-8pm on Saturday for the All Stars games.

"The majority of NSW is vaccinated and there's a strong case for all of us to get boosted because we know that it's safe," Abdo said.

Abdo expects more than 25,000 fans to attend as live rugby league returns to Sydney for the first time since last July, when a COVID-19 outbreak prompted the NRL's relocation to Queensland.

© AAP 2022

Image: U.S. Secretary of Defense, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Victoria's climate change damage bill could top $150 billion by 2050, according to a wide-ranging state government plan to climate change-proof the state.

The estimate is based on emissions continuing to grow at recent rates without any adaptation measures and does not fully account for the cost of floods and bushfires, pollution and loss of biodiversity.

Even so, by 2100, the cost of the impact is likely to be about $1 trillion.

The state's plan, Building Victoria's Climate Resilience, sets out 127 steps to deal with these impacts across seven areas, including the built environment, education and training, health and human services, natural environment, primary production, transport and the water cycle.

Housing and other infrastructure such as parks and sports fields will need to be climate-proofed, water supply will also have to be secured, drainage systems upgraded to deal with floods, and the state's transport infrastructure will also need to withstand more extreme weather.

Environment Victoria's Greg Foyster told AAP climate change would have a huge impact on Victorians' way of life.

"We definitely are very vulnerable to climate impacts, more than many other countries, and we need to do everything we can to cut emissions as fast as possible," he said.

He welcomed the plan, noting the measures are simultaneously designed to further cut emissions, but warned the public has little awareness of climate impact on one of the areas of key focus - food production.

"Once people are aware there could be problems with food production due to climate change it very quickly becomes a top concern," Mr Foyster said.

The agricultural sector was the fourth-largest emitter in the state in 2018, while at the same time farmers in the Wimmera and southern Mallee are facing extreme weather and less rainfall, according to the report.

The region is responsible for much of the state's fruit, nut and grain production.

Victoria is already feeling the effects of global warming, with an increase in average temperatures of 1.2 degrees since 1910, reduced average rainfall and increased fire danger.

According to the government's plan, if global emission continue to increase, there is worse to come.

It states by 2050 Victorians will experience an average annual temperature increase of up to 2.4 degrees, double the number of very hot days, longer fire seasons, more intense downpours, and less rain during winter.

The Victorian government has set a target to halve emissions by 2030 and has allocated just under $2 billion to climate change initiatives during the past two years.

© AAP 2022