NORTH Melbourne says Tarryn Thomas still has work to do to regain the trust of the playing group having brought unwanted attention to the club at the start of its new era.

Thomas has returned to the Kangaroos having taken time away to work through what the club has called "respectful behaviour training and (an) education program" after allegations of inappropriate behaviour towards women were levelled against the 22-year-old.

Thomas was in court last Thursday after being charged twice with breaching a court order, and will again appear on March 2.

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On Monday, North footy boss Todd Viney said Thomas remains unavailable for selection as he looks to win back the trust of his teammates and coaches.

"In this environment, you behave yourself into an AFL program and you behave yourself out of an AFL program," Viney said.

"We've set the terms, continue to display the wrong habits, and you find yourself out.

"As part of this process, Tarryn spoke to the leadership group about things he's learned over the past four weeks and the 12 months leading into this position. He was quite vulnerable and open, the leadership group put forward what they expect from him moving forward, so it was a good two-way conversation.

"We certainly have an understanding of where he's been at and what the leadership group want. Today he spoke to the full playing group as well."

Viney said there was no timeframe on when Thomas would become available for either AFL or VFL selection, and that the players would "absolutely" have a say as to when the midfielder should return, also flagging there would be work to be done on the track after a month off.

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"He's unavailable for selection – VFL or AFL – until we're happy he's continued to do his education program and he's at the level from a physical perspective. Until we can tick off that he's fully on board – which he's proven to this point – then we'll make that call as to when he's available," he said.

"It's going to be hard (to regain trust), there's been a lot of attention on the club for all the wrong reasons. We were embarking on a really exciting time with a new coach and footy department, and I think if you spoke to a number of people within the organisation, we were really excited about what we've seen so far.

"But we're getting a lot of attention for the wrong reasons. Tarryn has apologised to the leaders and playing group around it, because it's not what we want to be here talking about. He understands there's work to be done."

Asked just how Thomas had demonstrated he had made progress in his attitudes and language, Viney said it he felt the midfielder had taken responsibility for his actions.

"There's no excuses, there's no blame (being put elsewhere), there's accountability for his role and the language he's used and how he's addressed that," Viney said.

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"First and foremost it's his language to me, he's taken accountability and taken ownership and the other part of that is he's fully embraced the programs put in place in front of him. And he's done that without any complaints."

Thomas is not the only North figure whose attitude towards women has created headlines during the off-season. Last week, Thomas' coach Alastair Clarkson apologised to a female reporter for using threatening language, which included the phrase "your time will come".

Clarkson later said his comments were in relation to "facing intense scrutiny when in the public eye" and his apology to the reporter was accepted.

"We're taking both of the scenarios seriously," Viney said.

"Unfortunately a female journalist didn't feel comfortable in this environment on that particular day. When Alastair found out the exchange had upset the female journalist, within two hours he had apologised in person. The apology was accepted, and the case was closed.

"He's addressed the leadership group around that … he's had discussions with them about how that had unfolded.

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"He's certainly very strong-willed, you don't do what he's done in footy without a strong will, you have a sense of how things should be done.

"But part of my role as GM of footy is to control that, make sure he's not a 'bulldozer', in his words, that due process and decision making is made.

"We speak on-going about what we expect from our players, the standards of behaviour. I think 99 per cent of what 'Clarko' does is first class, he's one of the best coaches in modern history.

"We all have our strengths and we then have our weaknesses, so we've spoken about how he needs to tighten up on some of those areas and stay cool, calm and collected when the heat is on. We expect that from our players and we expect that from our coaches."