Thommo dodges his deal
MICHELANGELO RUCCI
September 01, 2006 12:15am
Article from: The Advertiser
ADELAIDE midfielder Scott Thompson yesterday turned up at Alberton Oval - a day late and unable to honour his bet from Showdown XXI.
Thompson was to have been at Alberton on Wednesday, in a Port Adelaide jumper and with an autograph book to cheer the Power players at their last training session at home.
He had eagerly taken on this challenge from Power midfielder Kane Cornes last Thursday in their weekly television segment on Channel 10.
But unlike West Coast ruckman Dean Cox - who vowed (and did) walk down the main street of Fremantle if his Eagles lost to the Dockers in the first Western Derby this year - Thompson let the bet, which he thought was never a risk, lapse in the wake of Port's upset win.
The scriptwriters at Channel 10 yesterday sought to cover up Thompson's absence at Port's training on Wednesday by letting him hide behind his club's injury and form crisis.
Cornes' line was to temporarily excuse Thompson because "this is not the time for a Crow to be playing the fool".
"You're a day too late . . . I was searching for you everywhere yesterday," Cornes did say on camera to Thompson as they sat in the heritage-listed grandstand at Alberton Oval.
Thompson did not even appear at Alberton, as the bet demanded, in a Power guernsey. However, Cornes maintained the wager had to be honoured. He has formed a committee of Power players to decide how Thompson will clear the ledger.
"I'll come up with something better . . . an absolute beauty," Cornes said to Thompson in yesterday's segment. "I've asked my team-mates across the oval to put on their thinking caps . . ."
There has been no indication that Crows officials - who last week laughed off the bet, seemingly not believing there was a threat of it going sour - kept Thompson away from Alberton Oval on Wednesday.
Channel 10 did have a camera crew and two reporters at Alberton on Wednesday.
And it is questionable whether Cornes would have been excused from appearing at AAMI Stadium during Crows training on Wednesday had the Power lost Showdown XXI.
Power officials were not happy with Cornes' bet but did not seek to revoke it. The only instruction to Channel 10 was Cornes was to tape up the sponsorship logos on any Adelaide jumper he wore.
It is expected Thompson will square off with Cornes and his Port team-mates in the lead-up to next year's first Showdown.
"I'm a man of my word," said Thompson, whose actions - or lack of them on Wednesday - contradict this. "I'll definitely come through with something."