yaco55
Hall of Famer
You have to spend enough time at the club to have your opinion respected. Bomber had a cruisy time for his first two years.
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Coaching Staff Mark "Bomber" Thompson - Will present the Jock McHale Medal for 2023 - 4/9
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You have to spend enough time at the club to have your opinion respected. Bomber had a cruisy time for his first two years.
TheGreatBarryB
Hall of Famer
Could be, but I think he was referring to whole time there and the aim of his comments was to imply he was not responsible for the debacle that occurred there and therefore that shouldn't stop other clubs from hiring him.
Doss
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Otherwise known as 'doing a Ryder'.
Bomber works at Geelong with Dean Robinson at Geelong for years - Robinson admits he has daily contact with Dank.
Bomber commences role at EFC, in comes Robinson and Dank.
Bomber - I had nothing to do with it...
Okey mate...
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I don't think it's as simple as that..
Doss
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Of course it's not, but some are seemingly so determined to carry on the deflection and blame game and this is the result.
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BOOK EXTRACT: THE year from hell actually began with some strong optimism. Off the back of a strong 2005, albeit with a difficult finish, Geelong won its first silverware in 43 long years, defeating Adelaide by nine points in the final of the NAB Cup pre-season competition in March.
Not since 1963 had the Cats won a senior premiership and you could see it in the players’ reactions; they were jumping all over each other at the siren. Cam Mooney kicked three last-quarter goals including the matchwinner as we came from behind to win.
But it was a mirage. When the regular season began, we lost seven of the first 10 games, including three at Kardinia Park, and the club grew tense as only footy clubs can do when the losses mount up and the team unravels.
I had also suffered in my personal life, with the breakup of my 18-year marriage to Annette during the first month of the season. This was a decision that I had taken myself, but it was difficult given we had three children. I knew it would hurt them.
I think what broke us up was the coaching. There is a toll that it takes, no doubt. My work was so demanding of my time and I felt like I was being pulled in two directions. I had the professional challenge of coaching, which was all-consuming, and the demands of family, and I knew I wasn’t doing a great job of being a family man.
Annette hadn’t wanted to move from Melbourne, and right back when I started commuting, I hated it. There were roadworks — they were widening the Princes Freeway to four lanes — and there were holdups every day that slowly drove me mad.
One night a week staying in Geelong turned into two nights, and then I started to like having my own space.
After a long day at the club I could have a long shower, I could leave the mess in the kitchen and clean up later, I could watch whatever I wanted on TV. It sounds selfish, but playing and coaching elite sport makes you selfish. Sadly, a lot of marriages don’t survive.
Meanwhile at the football club there were issues that bubbled up behind the scenes, notably the differences that myself and others in the football department were having with our fitness coordinator, Loris Bertolacci.
Loris, who had competed at international level as a hammer thrower and shot-putter, had been at Essendon prior to joining Geelong in 1998, back in my time at Windy Hill, and we had been mates then.
But at Geelong things had been testy before 2006, because Steven Hocking, manager of training services, and I both thought our running and skills programs were not right.
When Brian Cook talked to the senior players, I know that they backed me to continue, and that was critical. Without their support, I think that I would have been sacked.
Loris survived a review at the end of 2005 and over the off-season he was probably feeling alone, because he knew our thoughts. The football department wanted to take more control, Loris wanted to do it his way, and I was finding it impossible to work with him.
Then in April 2006 he was sacked, and he took legal action over his dismissal that was later settled.
There are a lot of theories as to what went wrong at Geelong in 2006, and why we went backwards. We were not fit enough, we were overrun in games, we lost a lot of close games as a result, and we had too many injuries.
Loris was about upper body strength and weight training and not enough running was done. In my opinion, inadequate fitness levels were the number one problem. It was not the only reason, and we all had to take some responsibility, but I had it at the top of the list.
Loris deserves credit for building up those young players over a few years, but in the end my relationship with him went sour; it was not a united workplace. We made a hard decision, which is the way footy goes when you are trying to get better.
Meanwhile in Round 10 against West Coast at Kardinia Park, we suffered the most humiliating fade-out of all, a defeat that resonated for quite a while.
Geelong led the Eagles by 54 points in that game, with 18 minutes left in the third quarter, and we were still 36 points up at three-quarter time, but West Coast launched a last-quarter avalanche and Adam Hunter came off the bench to kick the goal that won it for the Eagles.
It was that club’s biggest-ever comeback from a deficit at three-quarter time and one of the biggest in VFL/AFL history.
That was the way that the season went. We lost three games by fewer than 10 points, dropped out of the running for the top eight with two rounds remaining, lost to Hawthorn in Round 22 and ended up finishing 10th, more than two games out of the finals.
Needless to say after the optimism of 2005, it was a disastrous downturn and it almost cost me my job as coach.
Geelong went wobbly in mid-August, the first time I had witnessed that in six years with the club, and in response, I also was moved to consider my position.
Chief executive Brian Cook called a review of the operations of the club, which I saw as being too public and too inclined to apportioning blame.
I went on holidays to Hamilton Island immediately after the last game of 2006, unsure if I would see out the last year of my three-year contract in 2007.
Cook ran the review, which went for six weeks and of course, was accompanied by the noise that football creates, a cacophony of speculation that ran off the charts, most of it about my own future.
Cook said to me the day before I left that he wanted to interview me as part of the process, but I told him that I intended to enjoy my break.
“Just come back and have a chat to us,” he said.
I said, “No mate, I’m on holidays.”
He said, “We’ll pay for it.”
And I said, “No, I’m not coming. You’re gonna wait now. You made me wait all this time.”
My attitude was pretty feisty. While it was widely reported in the media as Geelong considering whether to continue with me, I was quite close to quitting, too, of my own volition.
I went to Hamilton Island thinking that I no longer wanted to work with those people to build from within and create something strong and sustainable.
Why would I want to work with Geelong when I had delivered on my word, then all of a sudden a little pressure comes along and they want to throw the towel in?
I knew at the time that at least two directors, Doug Wade and Gareth Andrews, wanted to see me gone, which is not in dispute.
Wade was asked about this on Fox Footy’s Open Mike in 2013 and he answered: “Pretty much, we thought that, yes. [But] we were convinced otherwise ... It was going to come to a vote but we felt that (sacking) wasn’t the right thing to do at that time.”
At the time there was a lot of rumour-mongering about my own personal situation, and questioning of whether I was distracted by my marriage break-up.
There were suggestions that it was impacting on my ability to coach the team. A lot of it was unfounded; personally, I was OK. It was not that difficult to coach through that situation, because by 2006, the club was set up and running.
I do think that some people judged me because it was my decision to leave the marriage.
Nobody makes a decision like that on a whim, but in society, the scuttlebutt just snowballs, gets bigger and badder. There were rumours that I was having a relationship with my personal assistant, for instance, which were completely wrong.
I was living pretty much full-time in Geelong and what happened was inevitable, but I ran away for six months and hid from it, when what I probably should have done, with hindsight, was stand up and explain myself. I should have told people that you don’t leave a marriage to hurt your wife or kids, you leave because it is finished.
I still did not know whether I would continue coaching Geelong by the time I returned from Hamilton Island a few weeks later for a 7am meeting with the board in Melbourne.
The meeting was convened at one of the board member’s legal offices in William St in the city, and I had already warned Cook that I would walk away if any media turned up.
Walking into the meeting, I told them right up front, “I’m not sure that I want to work with you.”
There was a fair degree of anxiety in the room, but I kept going, told them they would be weak to break down at the first point of tension that we had confronted at Geelong.
“How badly are we going, because it’s not just me that went badly, the club went badly. How badly are we going, and the club going?”
I had heard from certain people what they intended asking me, so I threw this back at them. I knew that they were leaking to the media; it had become a public event.
“I know exactly what you’re going to say to me this morning. Want to hear from my mouth? You want to know if I’ve got the passion to do it? Is that right?’ They said, ‘Yeah’.”
Entering that room I was not sure how I felt about going on, but they did ask me, and I said, “Of course I’ve got the passion.”
After that, it settled down, and on 25 September, Geelong announced that I would be continuing as coach in 2007, and that Tom Harley would replace Steven King as captain.
I left that whole process a hardened football coach, my skin a bit tougher, having survived what was almost a public execution.
A few things had happened in the lead-up to the meeting, notably that the players saved me. I have no doubt about that.
When Brian Cook talked to the senior players, I know that they backed me to continue, and that was critical.
Without their support, I think that I would have been sacked, but they pretty much told him that I was delivering a consistent message and that I treated them well.
That is where moments like the Sydney final in 2005 are important; you blow up after a game and you can pay a price later on.
But I had not lost them, and Matthew Scarlett made a phone call to Mike Sheahan of the Herald Sun in September 2006 that emphasised the point.
Scarlett is a straight shooter, and he told Sheahan that he would walk from Geelong if I was sacked, creating a headline for the back page of the newspaper the next day.
Cook, who had interviewed 60 people as part of his review, emphasised this point when he made the announcement that I was continuing: “Of all the people that I interviewed, to a person, there was a belief that Mark Thompson was a good coach, had been a good coach, and that his strengths were in teaching and developing players.”
Around the same time, I had also sought some advice and counsel from friends, the most important of which came from Rob Hulls, the Victorian government minister and a great Geelong supporter who is also a good mate. Hulls told me, “Go out and coach, be yourself, do it your way, whether you fail or succeed. Do it your way.”
Not since 1963 had the Cats won a senior premiership and you could see it in the players’ reactions; they were jumping all over each other at the siren. Cam Mooney kicked three last-quarter goals including the matchwinner as we came from behind to win.
But it was a mirage. When the regular season began, we lost seven of the first 10 games, including three at Kardinia Park, and the club grew tense as only footy clubs can do when the losses mount up and the team unravels.
I had also suffered in my personal life, with the breakup of my 18-year marriage to Annette during the first month of the season. This was a decision that I had taken myself, but it was difficult given we had three children. I knew it would hurt them.
I think what broke us up was the coaching. There is a toll that it takes, no doubt. My work was so demanding of my time and I felt like I was being pulled in two directions. I had the professional challenge of coaching, which was all-consuming, and the demands of family, and I knew I wasn’t doing a great job of being a family man.
Annette hadn’t wanted to move from Melbourne, and right back when I started commuting, I hated it. There were roadworks — they were widening the Princes Freeway to four lanes — and there were holdups every day that slowly drove me mad.
One night a week staying in Geelong turned into two nights, and then I started to like having my own space.
After a long day at the club I could have a long shower, I could leave the mess in the kitchen and clean up later, I could watch whatever I wanted on TV. It sounds selfish, but playing and coaching elite sport makes you selfish. Sadly, a lot of marriages don’t survive.
Meanwhile at the football club there were issues that bubbled up behind the scenes, notably the differences that myself and others in the football department were having with our fitness coordinator, Loris Bertolacci.
Loris, who had competed at international level as a hammer thrower and shot-putter, had been at Essendon prior to joining Geelong in 1998, back in my time at Windy Hill, and we had been mates then.
But at Geelong things had been testy before 2006, because Steven Hocking, manager of training services, and I both thought our running and skills programs were not right.
Then in April 2006 he was sacked, and he took legal action over his dismissal that was later settled.
There are a lot of theories as to what went wrong at Geelong in 2006, and why we went backwards. We were not fit enough, we were overrun in games, we lost a lot of close games as a result, and we had too many injuries.
Loris was about upper body strength and weight training and not enough running was done. In my opinion, inadequate fitness levels were the number one problem. It was not the only reason, and we all had to take some responsibility, but I had it at the top of the list.
Loris deserves credit for building up those young players over a few years, but in the end my relationship with him went sour; it was not a united workplace. We made a hard decision, which is the way footy goes when you are trying to get better.
Meanwhile in Round 10 against West Coast at Kardinia Park, we suffered the most humiliating fade-out of all, a defeat that resonated for quite a while.
Geelong led the Eagles by 54 points in that game, with 18 minutes left in the third quarter, and we were still 36 points up at three-quarter time, but West Coast launched a last-quarter avalanche and Adam Hunter came off the bench to kick the goal that won it for the Eagles.
It was that club’s biggest-ever comeback from a deficit at three-quarter time and one of the biggest in VFL/AFL history.
That was the way that the season went. We lost three games by fewer than 10 points, dropped out of the running for the top eight with two rounds remaining, lost to Hawthorn in Round 22 and ended up finishing 10th, more than two games out of the finals.
Needless to say after the optimism of 2005, it was a disastrous downturn and it almost cost me my job as coach.
Geelong went wobbly in mid-August, the first time I had witnessed that in six years with the club, and in response, I also was moved to consider my position.
Chief executive Brian Cook called a review of the operations of the club, which I saw as being too public and too inclined to apportioning blame.
I went on holidays to Hamilton Island immediately after the last game of 2006, unsure if I would see out the last year of my three-year contract in 2007.
Cook ran the review, which went for six weeks and of course, was accompanied by the noise that football creates, a cacophony of speculation that ran off the charts, most of it about my own future.
Cook said to me the day before I left that he wanted to interview me as part of the process, but I told him that I intended to enjoy my break.
“Just come back and have a chat to us,” he said.
I said, “No mate, I’m on holidays.”
He said, “We’ll pay for it.”
And I said, “No, I’m not coming. You’re gonna wait now. You made me wait all this time.”
My attitude was pretty feisty. While it was widely reported in the media as Geelong considering whether to continue with me, I was quite close to quitting, too, of my own volition.
I went to Hamilton Island thinking that I no longer wanted to work with those people to build from within and create something strong and sustainable.
Why would I want to work with Geelong when I had delivered on my word, then all of a sudden a little pressure comes along and they want to throw the towel in?
I knew at the time that at least two directors, Doug Wade and Gareth Andrews, wanted to see me gone, which is not in dispute.
Wade was asked about this on Fox Footy’s Open Mike in 2013 and he answered: “Pretty much, we thought that, yes. [But] we were convinced otherwise ... It was going to come to a vote but we felt that (sacking) wasn’t the right thing to do at that time.”
At the time there was a lot of rumour-mongering about my own personal situation, and questioning of whether I was distracted by my marriage break-up.
There were suggestions that it was impacting on my ability to coach the team. A lot of it was unfounded; personally, I was OK. It was not that difficult to coach through that situation, because by 2006, the club was set up and running.
I do think that some people judged me because it was my decision to leave the marriage.
Nobody makes a decision like that on a whim, but in society, the scuttlebutt just snowballs, gets bigger and badder. There were rumours that I was having a relationship with my personal assistant, for instance, which were completely wrong.
I was living pretty much full-time in Geelong and what happened was inevitable, but I ran away for six months and hid from it, when what I probably should have done, with hindsight, was stand up and explain myself. I should have told people that you don’t leave a marriage to hurt your wife or kids, you leave because it is finished.
I still did not know whether I would continue coaching Geelong by the time I returned from Hamilton Island a few weeks later for a 7am meeting with the board in Melbourne.
The meeting was convened at one of the board member’s legal offices in William St in the city, and I had already warned Cook that I would walk away if any media turned up.
Walking into the meeting, I told them right up front, “I’m not sure that I want to work with you.”
There was a fair degree of anxiety in the room, but I kept going, told them they would be weak to break down at the first point of tension that we had confronted at Geelong.
“How badly are we going, because it’s not just me that went badly, the club went badly. How badly are we going, and the club going?”
I had heard from certain people what they intended asking me, so I threw this back at them. I knew that they were leaking to the media; it had become a public event.
“I know exactly what you’re going to say to me this morning. Want to hear from my mouth? You want to know if I’ve got the passion to do it? Is that right?’ They said, ‘Yeah’.”
Entering that room I was not sure how I felt about going on, but they did ask me, and I said, “Of course I’ve got the passion.”
After that, it settled down, and on 25 September, Geelong announced that I would be continuing as coach in 2007, and that Tom Harley would replace Steven King as captain.
I left that whole process a hardened football coach, my skin a bit tougher, having survived what was almost a public execution.
A few things had happened in the lead-up to the meeting, notably that the players saved me. I have no doubt about that.
When Brian Cook talked to the senior players, I know that they backed me to continue, and that was critical.
Without their support, I think that I would have been sacked, but they pretty much told him that I was delivering a consistent message and that I treated them well.
That is where moments like the Sydney final in 2005 are important; you blow up after a game and you can pay a price later on.
But I had not lost them, and Matthew Scarlett made a phone call to Mike Sheahan of the Herald Sun in September 2006 that emphasised the point.
Scarlett is a straight shooter, and he told Sheahan that he would walk from Geelong if I was sacked, creating a headline for the back page of the newspaper the next day.
Cook, who had interviewed 60 people as part of his review, emphasised this point when he made the announcement that I was continuing: “Of all the people that I interviewed, to a person, there was a belief that Mark Thompson was a good coach, had been a good coach, and that his strengths were in teaching and developing players.”
Around the same time, I had also sought some advice and counsel from friends, the most important of which came from Rob Hulls, the Victorian government minister and a great Geelong supporter who is also a good mate. Hulls told me, “Go out and coach, be yourself, do it your way, whether you fail or succeed. Do it your way.”
TheGreatBarryB
Hall of Famer
Can't wait to read Robinson at Geelong chapter.
I went along to mark Harvey's testimonial many years ago. Myself and a mate were among the last to leave. Harvey was doing the rounds and came up to us to thank us etc etc and in barged good old Bomber.
" what are you doing talking to these campaigners Harvs ? Let's go"
Nice one Bomba.
Bet it will be short...
TheGreatBarryB
Hall of Famer
So yesterday Bomber called Dank 'a decent man'. Then went on to say how Dank could clear that air and questions over his own head by in Bomber's words..'just tell the players what you gave them please'. What a contradiction. It's almost like Bomber doesn't want to upset him as he has never really had a go at him. Again can't wait to read the book.
Reading that extract, it sounds eerily similar to what Sheeds went through with Alec Epis et al.
What is it with board members behaving like egomaniacs?
What is it with board members behaving like egomaniacs?
Doss
Ass
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If I was to read this I'd be far more interested to read about Bomber's Essendon playing days. Rehashing of the same saga events from the 63rd possible angle no longer really interests me.
Mercurial89
Brownlow Medallist
Doss
Ass
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Yeah that too, I guess.
As far as the saga goes, in most cases it's going to basically be an exercise in buck passing and excuse making no matter whose perspective it's coming from and to be honest, I've had my fill of that. I no longer having much interest in reading it, whether it be Bomber, Hird, Dank, Reid, anyone.
And for anyone who thinks there's going to be anything substantial (or indeed anything at all) about Weapon at Geelong, forget it. There won't be.
- Dec 14, 2008
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'Scarlett is a straight shooter, and he told Sheahan that he would walk from Geelong if I was sacked, creating a headline for the back page of the newspaper the next day'.
you know you have the players when they are creating headlines for you!
you know you have the players when they are creating headlines for you!
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Exactly. Like I said earlier, he's had 30 odd years playing and coaching at the top level. My interest is in his life as a kid and where his footy influence came from and when he realised he was good enough to make it, and his introduction into VFL footy and the career that followed. I'd be disappointed if it's predominately a saga related book.
- Dec 14, 2008
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i reckon the pasted clipping from the book it pertianant though.
Things got tough at Geelong, he flew the coop and went travelling - he seemed very skittish around the media and boardroom chinese whispers
Same thing happened down the Track with us, it got intense and he went of travelling, escape the scene.
Everyone figures he went off the rails late but maybe its just a persobnality trait. For a guy so unflappable on field maybe hes flappable off it
I'd love to hear about how he managed to get the gig to be the sparky for the Hall Of Fame at Windy Hill!
TheGreatBarryB
Hall of Famer
Don't forget the kids.
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Can't wait to read Robinson at Essendon chapter.
- May 8, 2006
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Anyone get a copy yet?
- May 8, 2006
- 13,700
- 11,422
- AFL Club
- Essendon
- Other Teams
- NYJ
Lol..I remember that.
Did a good job..I remember the first time I walked in and had a look. Very impressive room of Dons memories.
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