Sympathy for Bomber as Chappy slams rumours
FORMER Geelong star Paul Chapman has slammed suggestions Mark ‘Bomber’ Thompson was ‘using’ during his time at the Cats.
Chapman, who played 219 of his 280 AFL games — including two premierships — under Thompson, said the 54year-old was like a father figure to many young Geelong players in his time at the club.
Ex-St Kilda coach Grant Thomas sensationally claimed this week that Cats officials must have known something was up with the 1993 Essendon premiership captain and that they needed to take some responsibility for their part in his recent downfall.
But Chapman said some of the stories he had heard since Thompson was charged with drugs-related offences were simply untrue.
“It’s a sad thing to see but some of the stories I’ve heard out there are really poor, it’s like kicking a bloke while he’s down,” Chapman told K rock on Friday night.
“There are stories out there that people heard it was happening back in the 2000s when he was in his early days at Geelong, and that just can’t be right. This is a man who gave himself to the Geelong Football Club, who was a father figure to a lot of us, who shaped us not just as players but as people as well, so to hear people say that, it’s just not right.
“I think he needs help from this Essendon stuff and I hope he gets the help he needs, and it is just a really sad situation to see him in and … I think people need to hold judgment until the full story comes out.”
Chapman revealed he had most recently caught up with his former mentor in the days prior to his Port Melbourne property being raided by police back in January.
He said many people were understandably concerned for his welfare and hopeful he would seek help.
“I actually caught up with him two days before it all sort of went down and from my point of view I feel sorry for him,” he said.
“It’s a bad situation that he finds himself in but there is no doubt that the Essendon stuff that he went through and the Essendon players went through … has really got to him. I think he’s really upset at that situation and you can see by how he holds himself and whether he is depressed or not, I’m not too sure, but he’s definitely not in a good place.”
Thompson is due back in court on May 25.