To our members and supporters,
Today we made the decision to cut playing ties with Tarryn Thomas.
Right now, like many of our North Melbourne people, I’m feeling a range of emotions – frustration, anger, disappointment but overall, sadness.
This wasn’t a decision based on emotion – it was driven by incontrovertible, uncontested facts – but I want to be clear it wasn’t, and isn’t, easy.
At North Melbourne we have a proud and long history of supporting our people, even in the face of external criticism.
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.
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.
We’ll continue working with the AFL, the Players Association and Tarryn’s manager and his support network to ensure that he gets the help he needs to be better.
But he won’t play for the North Melbourne Football Club again.
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.
Sonja
