The AFL investigation found Thomas had “engaged in multiple acts of misconduct including threatening a woman via direct messages multiple times”, and was thus guilty of several breaches of the AFL’s conduct unbecoming rules.

North’s footy boss Todd Viney said the club had no regrets about the way they’d handled Thomas.

“I can’t read Tarryn’s mind, but from my point of view, there’s two Tarryns. There’s the one we see day-to-day and there’s the one who when he’s in a relationship, he has some troubles in dealing with relationship issues,” Viney said.

“Hand on heart, I can put my head on the pillow and think we as a club have supported our player. He’s one of us, we took him as a 17-year-old, we know he had a challenging upbringing and background. And hand on heart, we thought we could help educate him, put him in contact with some of the best people in the state around respect and responsibility, social media and the like.

Viney said North Melbourne do not yet have any clarity as to how Thomas would move to another club for next season, should a team wish to recruit him, and that it would be worked out in the course of finalising the end of his contract.

“We’ve just come to the conclusion that he won’t be part of the playing future, so we’ll work with his manager and Tarryn as to how that finishes up,” Viney said.

“Every AFL club will make their own call. We tried our best and couldn’t get it done, so we’ll leave it up to each club to make their own decision.

“It’d be a shame if he didn’t play football again.”

Roos’ CEO Jennifer Watt said the decision was made based on the recent finding and Thomas’ prior indiscretions.