Alastair Clarkson addresses Tarryn Thomas’ return to training

North Melbourne coach Alastair Clarkson has spoken publicly for the first time since Tarryn Thomas returned to training on Monday declaring the club can now start “moving forward”.

North Melbourne coach Alastair Clarkson says the club can now start “moving forward” after Tarryn Thomas’ return to training earlier this week.

The Tasmanian returned to training on Monday for the first time after he was stood down by the club following allegations of threatening behaviour made my multiple women.

Speaking to NewsCorp in Hobart on Wednesday, Clarkson said the 22-year-old would continue training although he remains ineligible for AFL and VFL selection due to a club imposed suspension.

“With all our players it’s always been about making them the best people they can be and as a result of that a benefactor of that will be they progress their football as well,” Clarkson said.

“I haven’t been directly involved with the whole Tarryn situation.

“It involves police, our club, and AFL integrity unit…but on Monday he turns up to training and that’s where my role comes into it.

“Now he’s back at training and fitting in with the group we can start moving forward in terms of what contribution he can make to our side hopefully throughout the course of this year.

Tarryn Thomas at training on Monday.

“So that’s part of all of our roles at the club whether it’s in football or the wider administration of the club, and that’s not just with our players its with our staff and our volunteers too.

“We’ll continue to invest in that way not just for Tarryn but with 44 of our other players and for about 120 staff we’ve got that’ll be the same approach we take.”

Clarkson’s comments came after North Melbourne’s head of football Todd Viney said the club was putting processes in place to continue helping Thomas.

“We hope that we are seen to be serious about what we are doing and that Tarryn understands he hasn’t acted to the level society expects,” Viney said.

“We are hoping that the people looking at this tonight see that we are putting things in place and taking it very seriously and we are trying to change behaviour more than anything,” he said.

“In this environment you behave yourself into an AFL program and behave yourself out of an AFL program … continue to display the wrong habits and you find your way out of the industry.”

Originally published as Alastair Clarkson addresses Tarryn Thomas’ return to training