The Kangaroos executive met on Wednesday morning,before releasing a response by club president Dr Sonja Hood.
“We take any allegation of threats of violence against women extremely seriously. Respect of all people is fundamental to our club values,” Hood said.
“The club was aware of formal allegations made against Tarryn during 2022 that were investigated by the AFL’s integrity unit. Tarryn and the club co-operated fully with those investigations.
“The club has since built a significant and multi-layered program which includes respectful relationships education,working with psychologists,mentoring,peer support and community outreach for Tarryn to complete so he can meet North Melbourne’s values and community expectations. He has started work on this program and we’ll continue to support Tarryn as he completes this work.
“Should any further investigation arise from new information passed on to the AFL or the police,the club and Tarryn will co-operate fully,as we did in the wake of those initial allegations.
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“It’s also important to acknowledge that Tarryn is still to face a matter before the courts and as such we won’t be making any comment about that particular case. Subject to any further investigations,the club will await the outcome of the court proceedings before confirming our next course of action.”
The allegations reported by News Corp include that one woman was provided with a psychologist by the league after being hospitalised as a result of an incident in 2022,while another received threatening text messages. One woman alleged Thomas threw a lamp at her in a hotel room and another claimed that he threatened to beat her. Another woman reportedly told friends she was scared Thomas was going to kill her.
The AFL does not plan to take any potential punitive action against Thomas until the charge against him has been dealt with by the court.
But the league reserves the right to take action – and potentially punish Thomas – once the court case has been resolved.
The AFL does not have a formal stand-down threshold – it deals with matters involving alleged mistreatment of women on a case-by-case basis. The NRL stand-down policy applies for serious charges that carry heavy penalties,such as rape and domestic assaults.
An AFL spokesperson said the league had been attempting to support the women involved.
“Any allegation of threats of violence against women is unacceptable and is behaviour that the AFL takes extremely seriously. The AFL has worked with Victoria Police regarding North Melbourne player Tarryn Thomas and after receiving some new information put to us by theHerald Sun,the AFL reached out directly to those persons known to us,” the AFL said in a statement.
“The AFL has offered and will continue to provide wellbeing support to any person who has come forward with an allegation.
“The AFL has investigated all formal complaints where appropriate and where there have been allegations of criminal behaviour have facilitated contact with Victoria Police who are the most appropriate body to investigate allegations of that nature.
“Tarryn Thomas is currently the subject of[a criminal charge] over a reported incident and while that matter is yet to be finalised in court,the AFL will continue to work with NMFC and Victoria Police and will monitor the outcome of the police action.”
The midfielder was also stopped by police for allegedly driving with a suspended licence during the Christmas break.
Thomas was due to face court in March over allegedly distributing an intimate image after the matter was adjourned.
with Marnie Vinall and Carla Jaeger
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