Coaching Staff Mark "Bomber" Thompson - Will present the Jock McHale Medal for 2023 - 4/9

[table tennis]

I was there the same night as you'd remember, and he definitely was a little eccentric in the way he came across but he also managed to have a chat and appear to be genuinely interested. We were chatting about different places we'd travelled, different cuisines we liked and a few other things that weren't footy related; it wasn't your normal sponsor night conversation, but in a good way. I still have a photo taken that night with Bomber somewhere on my computer.

Funnily enough, tim watson elaborated on the "questionable life / behavioral choices" that was known before he left Geelong.

Timmy should take some accountability with bringing him back to the footy club, it was he that orchestrated Hird and Thompson to get back in while knights was still coaching

 

[Bunk Moreland]

Funnily enough, tim watson elaborated on the "questionable life / behavioral choices" that was known before he left Geelong.

Timmy should take some accountability with bringing him back to the footy club, it was he that orchestrated Hird and Thompson to get back in while knights was still coaching

That’ll be our line, while the Geelong line will be (and already has been) “all his problems started when he left Geelong”.

 

[Donald Duck]

Have you met him ? I have. Champion of our club, no worries, too brave for his own good ? Absolutely. I've met him socially and I was honoured to be in his presence, or that was the feeling I was getting that I was supposed to have.

Spoke to a bloke at the footy on Sunday, obviously before this came out.

Amongst other former Bomber players, said Harvey was one of the best blokes, whilst Bomber has indulged for a bloody long time

 

[hurlygurdy]

Holy ******* s**t! Someone tell me that he literally bought into some sort of frozen goods business please!

 

[TheBrightSide]

Holy ******* s**t! Someone tell me that he literally bought into some sort of frozen goods business please!

That video has been doing the rounds for a few years now.
It sure was a shrewd move to announce on national tv that he planned on dealing ice.

 

[Howard Moon]

Are slurpees a gateway frozen water?

 

[AcuteWhistle]

I didnt think there was much to this due to the $20k bail but then saw this...



yikes Bomber...

 

[DERO]

That video has been doing the rounds for a few years now.
It sure was a shrewd move to announce on national tv that he planned on dealing ice.

It is breathtaking!

 

[yodellinhank]

A lot of things now make sense. There's no way he leaves Geelong unless he's battling addiction. It's a damn shame. We can only hope this kicks the government into gear on the fight against ice. The premier is a bombers supporter and Thompson likely would have been one of his favourite players growing up.

I think he did like the idea of being back at Essendon though, in '07 he was seriously considering going for the job judging by his comments at the time. Certainly the "burnt out" period he left the cats seems more health related than a contract termination trick.

 

[Howard Moon]

Phone call circa 07

Watson: hey Bomber, wanna come down for a coaching interview?, hirdy is on board
Bomber - mate, i'm comin down
Watson: that's great, hoped youd be keen, what time you heading in?
Bomber: I said i'm coming down- huge bender last week - haven't slept for 97 hours...

 

[Todman]

I was there the same night as you'd remember, and he definitely was a little eccentric in the way he came across but he also managed to have a chat and appear to be genuinely interested. We were chatting about different places we'd travelled, different cuisines we liked and a few other things that weren't footy related; it wasn't your normal sponsor night conversation, but in a good way. I still have a photo taken that night with Bomber somewhere on my computer.

Remember when Thompson went to Mexico to get away from it all. Maybe he had other plans and the excuse was a cover?

 

[TheGreatBarryB]

Mentioned in one of the articles today that he’d been refused entry to Maribyrnong Detention Centre where he was attempting to visit Thai with ‘dubious’ background, whatever that means. Bizarre

 

[Bunk Moreland]

Remember when Thompson went to Mexico to get away from it all. Maybe he had other plans and the excuse was a cover?

Visiting Gustavo Fring, perhaps?

 

[Howard Moon]

Remember when Thompson went to Mexico to get away from it all. Maybe he had other plans and the excuse was a cover?

The tacos came back all soggy, such a waste

 

[hurlygurdy]

I always wondered why he looked so haggard and unhappy.
So hard to understand how he went from using to dealing though. Even if it was only for a small network of people... Actually i think i understand all of a sudden

 

[TheBrightSide]

Visiting Gustavo Fring, perhaps?

That name rings a bell.

 

[Lore]

Mentioned in one of the articles today that he’d been refused entry to Maribyrnong Detention Centre where he was attempting to visit Thai with ‘dubious’ background, whatever that means. Bizarre

I think that was a couple of months ago, when a property he owned was raided and a couple of his acquaintances were taken in for questioning or something like that? Was reported at the time

 

[Bunk Moreland]

Good piece

A while ago now, maybe three years back, Bomber Thompson admitted to me that he was lost.

He had no problem saying it. We’d spent a lot of time together over the writing of his book, an autobiography ghosted by me entitled, rather ambitiously as it turned out: Bomber The Whole Story. We had connected pretty well, meeting at his café in Port Melbourne or his house for interviews. We had known each other for years before.

His problem, in the broadest sense and common to many big-time professional sports people, was moving forward. He’d been intoxicated by football, and in particular, by coaching at Geelong from 2000 to 2010. In that period, he not only won two premierships, he actually changed the way that football was played. So when he walked away, it just left an enormous vacuum in his life. Can’t live with it; can’t live without it, the saying goes.

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/the-bomber-who-fell-to-earth-20180502-p4zcws.html

 

[Donakebab]

I didnt think there was much to this due to the $20k bail but then saw this...

View attachment 491221

yikes Bomber...

https://outline.com/vyMz6U

33g of ice, 4.2g of amphetamines and an LSD tablet. Police seized various drugs and paraphernalia inside the home, including 839.7g of MDMA.

Honestly, the rest of it is small fry stuff and nothing that would see him serve time, but near on a kilo of MDMA is what will sink him. Probably only just avoiding a charge of trafficking a commercial quantity.

 

[Lore]

Good piece



https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/the-bomber-who-fell-to-earth-20180502-p4zcws.html

I like the style that it's written in. If I'd realised I was in the Bomber thread (and thus that it was about Bomber) I probably wouldn't have opened it... but I did, and I'm glad I did.

This part particularly interests me... though more about the man than about the current scandal;

He found his notes from the 2008 grand final: ''Hodge important/tag him, can’t drag him away.'' We had a laugh about that, since Geelong had kicked the ball to Luke Hodge all day in that game and lost. Then the 2007 grand final notes came out. One expression stuck out, for it was the mantra of those Geelong teams under Thompson, teams that transformed Australian football: 'RUN AND CARRY. KAMIKAZE.’

Thompson had kept loads of stuff. He showed me videos of Nathan Ablett, the former Geelong forward whom the club lost too soon, his greatest regret as a coach. His face lit up as we watched Ablett slotting a left-foot goal.

Bomber the coach was the same as Bomber the player: neat, well-organised, dotting the I’s and crossing the T’s. He was empathetic, believing in giving people chances. He loved bringing people along, drawing inspiration from the proverb: "Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime."

Clearly he was an exceptional manager of people, all of which brings us to the contradiction of his own behaviour of recent years. It's the reason why his old teammate Tim Watson said: “It’s almost impossible to think that’s the same bloke.’’

I can't really reconcile it... and I can't make up my mind what I think. I don't know if I even really have a right to an opinion about him, it is just vastly too complicated to do him any justice.

Ultimately though I think he's fairly troubled, and that this is in some way a form of self-medication for other issues. I guess the league and fame associated with playing and coaching so well, and that sense of self and sense of purpose that he got from it. And then the total fall from grace.

Another one that's been chewed up and spat out I guess.

 

[Barry Roundhouse]

I was there the same night as you'd remember, and he definitely was a little eccentric in the way he came across but he also managed to have a chat and appear to be genuinely interested. We were chatting about different places we'd travelled, different cuisines we liked and a few other things that weren't footy related; it wasn't your normal sponsor night conversation, but in a good way. I still have a photo taken that night with Bomber somewhere on my computer.

Sounds like you had a pretty deep and meaningful conversation.. hmmmm... If only there was a substance that tended to emit this type of response

 

[Runk]

It’s all just devastating. The poor bloke.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

I like the style that it's written in. If I'd realised I was in the Bomber thread (and thus that it was about Bomber) I probably wouldn't have opened it... but I did, and I'm glad I did.

This part particularly interests me... though more about the man than about the current scandal;


I can't really reconcile it... and I can't make up my mind what I think. I don't know if I even really have a right to an opinion about him, it is just vastly too complicated to do him any justice.

Ultimately though I think he's fairly troubled, and that this is in some way a form of self-medication for other issues. I guess the league and fame associated with playing and coaching so well, and that sense of self and sense of purpose that he got from it. And then the total fall from grace.

Another one that's been chewed up and spat out I guess.

I think he’s clearly an exceptional talent as a leader and coach - he was obviously highly rated to succeed Watson as captain, and then what he went on to do as a coach. But I doubt the game and public side of it ever really sat too well with him.

The saga devastated him and he’s still not over it.

He’s frozen out family and friends, had few people in his life, had a dabble in drugs,is befriended by the wrong people (I’ve no doubt due to his money and connections), and with little else to guide him has made some stupendously stupid moves.

He’s really had nothing of significance to do since 2014, which is sad. He’s plenty of money, so no motivation to go and get a job. Idle hands are the devil’s tools.

 

[HirdsTheWord]

i think all of us need to take a step back and giver bomber the benefit of the doubt here.

All of us should know that after what we have been through.

This needs to play out. If bomber has done the wrong thing he obviously needs to do his time. I just hope he lets the people who care about him back into his life. This could be a very terrible spiral down. Hirdy pulled himself out so hopefully bomber can also.

 

[ghostdog]

i think all of us need to take a step back and giver bomber the benefit of the doubt here.

All of us should know that after what we have been through.

This needs to play out. If bomber has done the wrong thing he obviously needs to do his time. I just hope he lets the people who care about him back into his life. This could be a very terrible spiral down. Hirdy pulled himself out so hopefully bomber can also.

This is sensible. All that has happened is that the police have made allegations. They need to demonstrate. The evidence found doesn't necessarily mean that he is a trafficker. A user, perhaps, though I hope not. A trafficker - seems counter-intuitive given what he went through with the saga. Why would someone who is financially stable seek to involve himself in a trade that destroys people. Anyone who has read his autobiography knows that he has always, proudly, been about building people.

On the other side of things, there have been some really dodgy types inferred to also have been involved. How organised can organised crime actually be?

May or may not have anything to do with anything, but I seem to recall shots being fired into Steve Dank's house... don't know that anyone was found after that.