Kangaroos chief executive Jennifer Watt said Thomas had received strong support from the club to change his behaviour and knew that any new indiscretion would threaten his football career.
Kangaroos football GM Todd Viney explains why the club sacked AFL player Tarryn Thomas.
Just minutes after the AFL confirmed a punishment that would have wiped out almost the whole season,North said it had lost patience with Thomas.
“The club has provided Tarryn with significant time,resources and support but we’ve now arrived at a point where the individual’s needs don’t match those of the club,” Watt said.
“We know Tarryn needs help – for himself and for the women in his life – but it’s clear the path we’ve taken over the past 12 months hasn’t had the desired impact.
“To that end,we have made the decision to end Tarryn’s time at North Melbourne.”
Tarryn Thomas on the field for the Roos last season.Getty Images
Thomas was contracted until the end of 2024.
“This decision doesn’t come lightly or easily. We brought Tarryn to the club as a teenager and we acknowledge that he has faced complex and challenging circumstances over his life,” Watt added.
Run out of chances:North Melbourne’s Tarryn Thomas.Getty Images
“We hope Tarryn will find the support that is right for him and that he does the work required to be the best version of himself.”
The Age had earlier confirmed the league’s decision,which,from two sources familiar with the situation who were not authorised to talk.
The AFL integrity unit investigation found that Thomas “had engaged in multiple acts of misconduct including threatening a woman via direct messages multiple times”.
“Tarryn’s conduct does not represent behaviours acceptable to anyone in our game or our community and his actions were not of a standard that the game or the public expect,” said the league’s general counsel,Stephen Meade.
“While we understand and are empathetic to the challenges Tarryn was facing in his personal life,there is no excuse for the behaviour or the hurt he caused a young woman,this is never OK.
“The fact that Tarryn chose to engage in behaviour over direct messages that was,and is,clearly inappropriate,even while he was undertaking education and being counselled for previous breaches contributed to the length of suspension imposed.”
The 23-year-old has not trained with North Melbourne since January 17 when the investigation became public.
at AFL headquarters on January 29 and the AFL said it took into account that he had engaged in misconduct during an education program to deal with similar behaviours last year.
Thomas’ representatives are understood to have fought the length of the ban.
He will have to prove to the AFL he is making progress with a behavioural change program,at his own expense,before he is allowed to return to football at any level.
North Melbourne president Dr Sonja Hood said the decision to cut ties with Thomas was driven by “incontrovertible,uncontested facts”,and said the woman who made the allegations had shown bravery and dignity.
“As you know,Tarryn’s behaviour has been a concern for some time. Our duty of care to Tarryn and to the wider community meant we chose to work with him to address his behaviours,particularly in regard to his treatment of women,” she said in a letter to members.
“It’s why we accepted our responsibility to seek help for him. It was a complex and difficult situation but we were all united in our determination to get the best outcomes for Tarryn and those around him.
“Tarryn came back to the club midway through last year pledging to be better.
“We are all bitterly disappointed that he has relapsed. And he is now out of chances.
“Last year he was afforded the privilege of doing his intensive education and rehabilitation programs within the structure of our footy club. From here he’ll have to find that structure elsewhere.
“Out of respect for her privacy I won’t say anything about the woman who brought these allegations to the AFL other than to commend her bravery and the dignity with which she has handled herself throughout this process. She deserved better.”
Thomas has played 69 senior games for the Kangaroos since being drafted with pick No. 8 in the 2018 national draft.
The AFL Players Association said it would provide Thomas with access to its services. “We would like to reiterate that disrespectful behaviour towards women,in any form,is unacceptable,” a statement said.
North’s GM of football Todd Viney addressed the media on Thursday afternoon.
He said Thomas was “matter of fact” in his demeanour upon being broken the news by the Kangaroos.
“It was a hard conversation to have,obviously,but I think on the back of all the conversations we had through the middle of last year about his behaviour and that if we didn’t see some changes that he was skating on really thin ice,” Viney said.
“On the back of the findings,the suspension,I think he saw the writing on the wall.”
Viney said the club was now clearer on Thomas’s actions that ultimately ended his time at Arden Street but would not go into the details out of respect for the victim.
Thomas’s league career now hangs on the preparedness of another club to take him on.
“It’d be a shame if he didn’t play football again,” Viney said.
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