Once a rising star in the AFL, former North Melbourne star Tarryn Thomas’ life has taken a dramatic turn for the worse since a series of misconduct breaches involving women cost him his professional career.
The talented 25-year-old, who played 69 AFL games for the Kangaroos, is now in the footy wilderness as he assesses his future options.
Thomas has struggled to find a club ever since he was sacked by the Kangaroos in 2024, subsequently missing the whole of last season.
It came after the AFL imposed an 18-match ban on Thomas over multiple misconduct breaches, including threatening a woman via direct messages.
Thomas was forced to sell his luxury apartment and car, at a loss of over $100,000, when he was sacked – and is believed to be now living with his girlfriend, News Corp reported.
Thomas and his lawyer are reportedly now working alongside the AFL Players’ Association (AFLPA) to assess his future in the sport.
Tarryn Thomas (pictured outside a Melbourne court in November last year) lost his once-promising AFL career after the league banned him for 18 games
Thomas (pictured playing for the Kangaroos) is struggling to make a return to top-flight footy
It comes as the troubled star has recently been involved in a police investigation after he alleged that he and a friend were held hostage at gunpoint earlier this month.
He also claimed that the individuals, who had allegedly held them hostage, had demanded they sign over the papers to his car and give them thousands in cash.
Thomas is understood to have now retracted his police statement following the alleged incident.
At the beginning of the 2025 season, Thomas had attempted to join up with the Northern Bullants in the VFL while other sides were also interested in signing him to their roster.
The footy player had also been told by the AFL that he could play at state-league level but only for a club that is not an affiliate of an AFL side.
The Bullants had expressed a desire to sign him but received widespread backlash over the move.
The footy club’s board of directors subsequently decided against adding the 25-year-old to their list.
In February, Thomas also came close to joining up with Western Australia side, Swan Districts, but they too announced publicly that they would be snubbing the midfielder – who had moved to Perth in order to begin a two-week trial with the side.
The 25-year-old has been snubbed by several clubs in the past year
Thomas is now working with the AFLPA and his lawyers to assess his future in the sport
The Swans then decided that they would not be moving forward with their attempts to sign Thomas after multiple members of their women’s side vowed to quit if he was recruited.
A sponsor at Port Melbourne also stated that it would not accept his addition to the club’s list, even though the side had given consideration to signing the 25-year-old.
Thomas is understood to be ineligible to register for the 2025 mid-season draft. The Herald Sun adds that the league has not made a decision on whether he will be allowed to return in 2026.
Now, his legal team and the AFLPA are understood to be working to assess whether he will ever be given the green light to return to play AFL footy.
Sources close to him say, according to The Herald Sun, that the AFL’s move to allow him to return to state-level footy came at a timely point, giving him only a few options at VFL level.
Thomas has since turned to religion, heading down to a local Sunday service and has been keeping fit in the gym.
The former Roos star recently came close to a move to WAFL side Swan Districts and was in talks with VFL club, the Northern Bullants
Thomas was signed to North Melbourne back in 2018 as pick No 8 in the National Draft.
He would go on to make his debut the following year during the Kangaroos’ 21-point loss to the Brisbane Lions in Round Two.
The 25-year-old received a Rising Star nomination following a game against Gold Coast later that season, where he booted two majors.
During his time with the club, he would return 56 goals across across 69 appearances.
