By Sam McClure
An email sent by North Melbourne chief executive Jennifer Watt to her 17 club counterparts about sacked player Tarryn Thomas has laid bare the club’s frustration over their repeated attempts to rehabilitate him.
In the email sent on May 1, and seen by this masthead, Watt said the Kangaroos had been unable to change Thomas’ behaviour. Thomas, who was banned for 18 matches by the AFL for inappropriate behaviour towards women, had completed four different behavioural programs before being sacked by the club once the league’s ban was announced.
Former North Melbourne midfielder Tarryn Thomas at a training session at Arden Street last year.Credit: AFL Photos
The email was addressed to West Coast CEO Don Pyke, who wrote to the AFL last week to urge the league to take a united stand against the prevalence of gender-based violence, amid growing community outrage about the killing of women in 2024; a woman has been killed violently on average every four days.
West Coast boss Don Pyke.Credit: Getty Images
Watt wrote to Pyke and the other club chiefs to express her gratitude for Pyke’s leadership on the issue of violence against women.
“[North Melbourne president] Sonja [Hood] and I have been talking a lot about this, especially in light of the recent challenges we faced with Tarryn Thomas,” Watt wrote in the email.
“We were struck by just how hard it was to find programs to support behaviour change. And this was for someone with considerable resources and support around them.
“We eventually found a combination of programs for Tarryn. Even though Tarryn ended up completing four different programs which included an extensive combination of education, therapy and participation-style programs, we were not able to meaningfully change his behaviour.”
Watt said there was a “need for broad reform” and North Melbourne would “support an industry initiative”.
Watt and Thomas’ manager, Ben Williams, declined to comment when contacted on Wednesday.
Thomas, 24, has to complete another education course at his own expense before the league will consider allowing him to be registered to play again, but he cannot return to the AFL in 2024 due to the timing of his suspension.
Thomas was suspended by North Melbourne in 2023 and charged by police over his Instagram message to his then-girlfriend in 2022 during an argument, asserting he had distributed intimate videos of the two of them. Thomas was initially charged with threatening to distribute an intimate image, which was later dropped and replaced with a charge of using a carriage service to harass. That charge was discontinued on the condition that Thomas make a $1000 donation to the court fund.
Police have not charged Thomas for any of the subsequent incidents from 2024 that led to his AFL suspension. An AFL integrity unit investigation had found that Thomas “engaged in multiple acts of misconduct including threatening a woman via direct messages multiple times”.
Pyke received immediate backing from large sections of the football industry for his suggestion that the AFL take a united stand against the prevalence of gender-based violence.
“I’m not suggesting we’ve got all the answers,” Pyke said of the AFL and the clubs. “We’ve got to be part of the solution.
“The numbers are quite staggering when you look at them.”
Three club chief executives, who declined to speak publicly due to the sensitive nature of the issues, said they were surprised that Watt had referred to Thomas in her response after Pyke had written about violence against women in broad terms.
Brad Scott addresses his players during Essendon’s Anzac Day clash with Collingwood.Credit: AFL Photos
The AFL did not mention Thomas last week when it announced a league-wide stand on violence against women, in which players, coaches and umpires formed a circle for a minute’s silence before all nine games in round eight. Senior coaches also read a statement before their respective post-match media conferences.
Watt’s email came less than a month after comments by Geelong coach Chris Scott who, when asked about Thomas, said the club was “open-minded” about the recruitment of any player.
Chris’ brother, former North Melbourne and now Essendon coach Brad Scott, was criticised last week when he spoke about Thomas, having coached him at the Kangaroos.
“The reality is that there are people from privileged backgrounds who have had every opportunity in life, and there are others who haven’t,” Scott said.
“People will make mistakes and as a leader, as a coach and as a parent, the responsibility is to have people learn from those mistakes. And they will make mistakes at different stages, and we’ve got to lead by example.
“In Tarryn’s case, my view is one of support.”
Former Geelong champion Jimmy Bartel, who has previously spoken of harrowing ordeals he witnessed as a child, spoke passionately about Thomas and violence more broadly when asked about it on Footy Classified last week.
“So I get your premise of, the AFL, we can lead the charge, we can rehabilitate, we can be a leader in this space,” Bartel said.
“But this whole, forgiveness, try again, try again, is not working. So at some stage, what happened in the past ... we’ve actually got to go a bit more of a different direction. I lean a bit towards more zero tolerance than others because that’s personal to me.
“I’m open to all discussions, but I feel incredibly uncomfortable that we’re gonna have players arm-in-arm, another woman dies ... I just find it very hard.”
If you or someone you know is affected by sexual assault, domestic or family violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732.
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