The AFL needs to take a more proactive approach to dealing with matters involving alleged mistreatment of women, says a university professor who spent 15 years advising the NRL on gender issues.
North Melbourne remain unclear when midfielder Tarryn Thomas will return to pre-season training after he stepped away from the club on Wednesday following fresh allegations relating to his behaviour towards women.
Multiple women now allege Thomas behaved inappropriately towards them.
The 22-year-old is already due to face court on March 28 after being charged with threatening to distribute an intimate image. Thomas will defend the charges.
The AFL has been liaising with Victoria Police about Thomas’ alleged behaviour, but it is unlikely they will refer the latest allegations directly to police unless further information is provided.
University of Sydney professor and workplace diversity consultant Catharine Lumby, who spent 15 years advising the NRL on gender issues, said it was appropriate that Thomas take time away from the club now but the door should also be left open for him to return to training with the club.
Catharine Lumby
She said North Melbourne had taken an appropriate course of action by standing Thomas down while police investigated the allegations, but it would also be appropriate in her view for Thomas continue to train with the club before his court case if that was considered the best way to bring about a change in his behaviour.
“We don’t judge people as guilty before [an allegation’s] been tested in a court of law, but if someone’s under the cloud of a serious allegation, it’s the right thing to ask them to step aside pending the charges being heard,” Lumby said.
“That sends the right message. And I don’t particularly see a problem with him training with his club, because I think the balance there is – and this was something the NRL confronted on many occasions – is that we do need to really respect the fact that we believe that people are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
“And clubs have a duty of care to their players to not prejudge them and to support them without sending the message that this sort of charge is trivial.”
The AFL does not have a formal stand-down threshold; instead dealing with matters involving alleged mistreatment of women on a case-by-case basis. The NRL introduced a no-fault stand down clause for serious charges in 2019.
Lumby called on AFL leadership to take a more proactive approach, noting that if Thomas left North Melbourne, the program implemented by the club – which, according to club president Dr Sonja Hood, included respectful relationships education, working with psychologists, mentoring, peer support and community outreach – would end if he was traded.
“A unified approach driven at AFL level is critical,” she said.
“That’s one of the things I found when I first started working with the NRL, that there was a huge variation in club cultures. And some of them, to be frank, back then, were run by boofheads”.
Lumby said it was also crucial that any education and training programs provided to male players be based on good evidence.
“That’s really where the rubber hits the road,” Lumby said.
“Are they programs that the players relate to and engage with, and are they based on the lives that they live and the situations that they encounter?”
While away from the club, Thomas will continue to undergo a respectful behaviour training and education program developed specifically for him as the AFL continues to gather information about the allegations.
It is not expected to be an overnight fix for Thomas who was pick No.8 in the 2018 national draft, arriving at North Melbourne from Tasmania as a next-generation academy graduate. He signed a two-year contract extension at the start of 2022 tying him to the club until 2024.
Last year Thomas spent time away from the club during the season as he grieved the loss of his grandmother.
