BOMBER IS WELCOME
Cats open arms as embattled former coach faces drug charges
GEELONG says dual premiership coach Mark Thompson is welcome at the club, hopeful he will be at next year’s 2009 flag reunion.
Essendon coaching colleague James Hird yesterday revealed the extent of psychological damage from the supplements scandal, saying the pair received scant support during the drugs crisis.
Thompson is facing serious drug charges, with many close friends believing his behaviour grew erratic in his final years at Geelong.
Like many of those connected to Thompson, senior figures at the Cats made overtures but found their recent offers of help went ignored.
Cats president Colin Carter said yesterday the Cats were always there for Thompson, one of the most brilliant and enigmatic figures in football.
“There isn’t much I can say because it’s a court case, but also because you genuinely don’t know what to say other than the fact you genuinely feel sorry for his situation,” he said.
“We wish him well and hope the best for him. We don’t have a premiership function this year, we didn’t win it in 2008 so there will be another one in 2019 and obviously he would be a welcome guest at that. My understanding is there are a lot of people including those at the club who have offered help but they are all a bit nonplussed.
“Everyone who has known him and been close to him says they have struggled to be in contact with him for some time.”
Last year he returned to the club for the 10-year reunion of the 2007 premiership, his first meaningful interaction with many players since he left in 2010.
Hird told the Crawf and Hirdy podcast this week that he met Thompson on Wed- nesday, a day after he was charged with seven drug-related offences — including trafficking and possession — following a raid on his Port Melbourne home in January.
“That was the tipping point for a lot of us,” Hird said of the sports supplement saga.
“My issues have been well documented and now he is going through something that hopefully he can get through and that it doesn’t go any further.
“(Essendon) weren’t (offering any support). The people inside the club at the time were not about supporting emotionally the people who were going through those times,” he said.
Carter said the Cats would never lose sight of what the players and coaching staff achieved in that premiership win.
“I think the reality is people as they get older go back through their life and they might have moved on but we try to find things in our life which have been truly significant,” he said. “Bomber and all those associated with that time will look back on that time and it makes no sense to alienate yourself from them.”