Bomber T - My Best year in football (Aka im not leaving)

rizzo

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n the eve of the most anticipated match in Mark Thompson's time at Geelong, the Cats coach explains how this year he is beginning to fulfil his football dreams, JASON SHIELDS reports

MARK Thompson has never been happier in the coach's chair at Geelong.

His office is now surrounded by people he describes as ``dynamic'', a testament to the club's decision to significantly bolster its football department in the off-season.

His team is also playing a brand of football he only dreamed of achieving when he first started the job eight years ago.

``Oh, it has been incredibly good fun to come to work this year,'' Thompson says, smiling. ``It has been great, it has been the best year of footy that I have had, I think.''

Even better than your playing days, Bomber, when you won three premierships, including one as captain, at Essendon?

``Yeah, absolutely, because you put more into it now than you did as a player and you have a dream when you take on coaching to work in an environment where it is really dynamic and powerful and to play a style of footy that we've produced this year, you think that one day if you ever achieve that, it would be really fulfilling.''

Thompson, 43, looks as fit now as he did during his playing days and sits comfortably in the knowledge that his standing in the football world is as high as it has ever been.

It is a reminder that if a week can be a long time in football, then consider a year.

It was at this time in 2006 that Geelong was nearing the end of a painful review following its disastrous season. It was described later by president Frank Costa as the most comprehensive review ever undertaken by a football club and, throughout that period, fans and some sections of the media were calling for Thompson to be axed.

In Thompson's own words, the process for him was ``crappy''.

Thompson's personal comeback started on the day of the VFL grand final when the club finally announced that he would see out the remaining year on his contract.

It also pledged to offer its coach more support.

A football manager's position was created and promptly filled by former Melbourne coach and Collingwood football manager Neil Balme. The club actively recruited former Adelaide Crows fitness guru Paul Haines and Manly's Dean Robinson to head up the fitness program and strengthened itself in the area of sports science. It also employed consultancy firm Leading Teams to work closely with the newly-formed leadership group and secured the services of renowned sports doctor Chris Bradshaw for the season.

The only change to the coaching department was signing former Cats player and Port Adelaide assistant coach Brenton Sanderson to replace Andy Lovell.

The moves were all geared towards allowing Thompson more time to focus on the job he was employed to do _ coach.

The results since have spoken for themselves.

The Cats finished the regular season three games clear with a percentage of 153, more than 30 per cent ahead of the next best in the competition. They also finished more than 200 points clear of their nearest rival on the `points for' column and almost 700 clear of the eighth-placed Adelaide.

Put simply, opposition teams have not been able to stop Geelong from scoring big this year.

The sharp turnaround in fortunes has been built around the increased fitness and improvement of the players themselves and in the overwhelming success of Thompson's new attacking game plan.

Thompson was willing to stick fat with his bold playing style early in the season, despite his team dropping three of its first five matches in the home and away rounds.

He also absorbed a NAB Cup semi-final loss, where the Cats were choked up by Brisbane's flood.

``Yeah, I let the players work it out for themselves, that was what it was all about,'' Thompson recalled. ``You can change your game plan to combat it (the flood), but we thought that this (new game plan) is what we really wanted to do to combat it and sometimes while you are learning to do something you are going to fail at it until you get the game plan right.

``I think by halfway through the year there were teams who were putting numbers back behind us and trying to slow us up, but we still found a way to get through. We figured it out.''

Thompson admitted that Geelong's willingness to embrace change this year represented a significant culture shift at Skilled Stadium.

The evidence of this was never more apparent than in the costly experiment to send Max Rooke to Germany to undergo alternative treatment on his hamstring.

``I think all year as a club we have done a lot of things right,'' Thompson said. ``At the time (when Rooke tore his hamstring) we thought, `is there anything we can do, to go away and come up with our best solution to try and get him fit?'.

``So we went to Brian Cook to find the money to go because we knew it was going to be expensive and he said `yep, let's do it if you think it is going to help'.

``I think just the fact that we showed all our players and our supporters that we are really professional and that we will go to any lengths to try and get players to play is a positive. The fact that it has worked? Incredibly good, we're very, very happy.''

Although it would be impossible to qualify if Rooke could have healed as quickly in Melbourne, the bold move was one that previously may have only been contemplated by clubs like Collingwood or West Coast.

``No, it wouldn't have been done at Geelong (in previous years),'' Thompson said. ``And that is the sort of people the club has gone out and hired.''


The players have also thrived in the dynamic working environment at Skilled Stadium this year, according to the coach.

Last week, when the players were supposed to be on their day off, almost 20 rocked up to the ground to go through some extra rehabilitation work.

``They could have just done their recovery down at Torquay or Eastern Beach but they all turned up here,'' Thompson said. ``I think they are all just trying to . . . be as professional as they can be.


``I just know that a lot of people speak to me and they say that they haven't seen the boys out much in Geelong, which is the first time in years, so if that is any gauge, then they must be doing something right.

``Geelong is a great city for a young person to grow up in and to play footy in. It is a little bit more relaxed than the hustle and bustle of Melbourne, you can get around town a lot easier and the footy club has created an environment where we try and give each player the best chance to fulfil their potential.

``For them to come to Geelong as young footballers, I think it is our responsibility to try and get the very best out of them and I think we have provided the environment for that to happen.''

In less than two weeks, Thompson knows his perfect year in charge of the Cats could be capped with a premiership. It is something he has been happy to dream about.

``Oh, yeah. I think everybody thinks about it and that is a very normal thing and if you feel guilty about doing that, well then you are quite silly and foolish,'' he said.

``But the important part is that when it is time to play that you don't actually think about the outcome and the premiership then, that when you play, you play, and you just lock into what you are doing right now.''
 

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Joined
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#4
Do you think if Essendon picked up Judd that Bomber would
consider the Essendon job?
Judd will be at Carlton next year and and after you win this years flag you'll be looking for a new coach in 08....

Thompson is heading to Bomber land...it's a shame coz he's done a fantastic job this year, nonetheless you'll most likely be playing off in next years GF anyway regardless of who coaches.
 
Joined
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#5
Judd will be at Carlton next year and and after you win this years flag you'll be looking for a new coach in 08....

Thompson is heading to Bomber land...it's a shame coz he's done a fantastic job this year, nonetheless you'll most likely be playing off in next years GF anyway regardless of who coaches.
NO CHANCE :cool:
 
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