LOL you seriously think hes gonna go on their radio station and defend us?
Humour is a great disarming trait to have in your arsenal. Sheedy was a master at it. It helps lighten the tension and Christ knows we needed that last year. Without him I think we would have collapsed. My gut feel is we would have had a shocker as anyone else wouldâve been a lot more tense and there is only so long you can play on anger.
Look at an example of someone with no sense of humour - Malthouse. The way he carried on last year and his inability to diffuse the tension cost them very dearly. It was embarrassing.
With all the crap going on last year, I donât think Bomber had 100% buy in either. The players wouldnât have known what was going on. The Ryder issue and Winders bad performances in the final cost us potentially a preliminary final spot.
Without all the crap, I reckon Bomber would have had us in the top 4 last year. He was a kick or so away from it even with all the rubbish going on.
The Robbo interview clears up that he was genuinely thinking that Hird was gone and that the club was going to have him continue on as the head coach. He did cop a fair bit of flack for the B&F which he should have the chance to clarify any misunderstanding. I think some might had assumed he and Little were in on something to get Hird. Whereas I think Bomber points out that Little runs the show pragmatically.
He definitely could have been more subdued with his speech and realised there were many hurting that Hird wasnât there.
At the same time I think he wanted to point out the positives of what the players did for the year and the good work of the support people around the club under duress. He thanked the sponsors. He reassured the families. It was a bit of a spur of the moment from the heart answer to a question and he seemed to feel the emotion of the hard work many people had done that year and the terrible times the club is in and the emotion came through that he was proud of people.
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If you view Bombas speech from the point of view that he a) had the blood flowing for the hot seat again, & b) had been offered the GC position (or ar least been souded out on it already), it takes on a whole different tone.
It could easily have been a - sorry folks, but I cant go back to the back seat now, & Jims coming back, so, as much as I love EFC & would love to stay, Iâve gotta go elsewhere to fill this need, -, farewell speech.
As the article went to pains to point out, it isnât clear when Little had âThe Chatâ.
Before makes that scenario seem less likely, after, it actually strengthens the chance of it.
A few precious souls in this thread. Bomber is a three time premiership player and a premiership captain. He can do whatever he likes with his future career. Who are we to determine Bomberâs future !
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Mark Thompson ready for next life stage after grumpy few years at Essendon
Mark Robinson
Herald Sun
January 29, 2015 10:00PM
MARK Thompson has been angry for two years.
It was a war, he said, as the AFL and ASADA and the accusations, the allegations and the headlines made almost every day unbearably intense.
He found some solace last year coaching Essendon, doing what he does best, losing himself in what he calls the purity of football.
âPurity of footy is the thing that has driven me,â he said.
âIâve tried stay in that zone as long as I could each day in my life. But more and more, like the past couple of years, it has taken away from that to the point where itâs affecting your happiness in life.â
The war is now over for Bomber.
After 33 consecutive seasons in club land, he starts a new life.
He will still be erratic, strong-minded, arrogant, confident, whimsical, quirky, funny and honest. But he wonât be in footy.
He started in January, 1981, in Essendonâs under-19s team, being coached by Kevin Morris, a fresh-faced, stocky left-footer from Airport West, just around the corner from Windy Hill
And he departed in November, 2014, still stocky, still a left-footer, a lot wiser, a little beaten up, but with a career colossal in achievement.
He was a three-time premiership player, a best and fairest winner, a club captain and a premiership captain at the Bombers and a two-time premiership coach at Geelong.
As a player he was fiercely competitive. As a coach, he was probably worse. He knew football. How to get the ball and what to do with it. He coached beautiful football, too. The Geelong team of 2007-2010 was purity in all its glory and for that, the game itself should say thanks.
Sadly, he hasnât been clapped out of footy, which is the gameâs shame. The game is so intensely competitive and so future-oriented, it hardly stops to smell the roses. Then again, Bomber isnât a roses type of guy.
Quite unbelievably to everyone outside of the club, Thompson was effectively sacked by the Bombers.
It wasnât all Essendonâs doing, for Thompson admits he can be a difficult individual.
Asked if he felt let down by the Bombers, he said: âA touch. I was to blame, too. It was a mix. We just couldnât work it out. But itâs the best for me and the club. Hirdy being there by himself, his own man, his own staff, and he can do the best he can. I wish him well.ââ
He says the next chapter in his life is both exciting and foreboding.
âIâm looking forward to it,â he said.
âIâm enjoying not having that commitment to go to game-plan meetings and training meetings and having that consistency of turning up to work. Itâs good, but at the same time I sometimes get lost and canât get going.
âThe other side of the coin is to learn how to initiate himself. Itâs not daunting so much. Itâs re-skilling yourself and pushing yourself to do it. Work pushes you out the door every day and nothing is pushing me out the door at the moment.â
WORKING WITH HIRDY
THE GOLDEN Ticket of Hird and Thompson â who both returned to Essendon in 2011 â was never as sparkling as was imagined.
The first season was rewarding, it was progressively a chore through 2012-13 and he coached in 2014.
âThe first year was a good year, I enjoyed it. The second year I didnât enjoy much. To be honest, I was thinking about leaving at the end of the second year.
âThe third year I didnât enjoy, and the fourth year, I wasnât even going to be there.
âFrom the start, it was a difficult role because everyone thought I had more influence than I did, and I didnât want to have the influence, I didnât want to be senior coach, I wanted to be a good support coach.
âBut being in the support role, you donât have that much influence. James is own man, his own coach and he would ask me something and Iâd give 100 per cent help, but he wasnât a puppet, he was the coach.
âThatâs been lost a bit. I felt uncomfortable when people thought I was pulling the strings when I clearly wasnât.â
He disputes he and Hird had fallen out after Thompsonâs speech at the best and fairest and says he wasnât promoting himself to replace Hird.
So the relationship didnât deteriorate?
âNo, I donât think it did,ââ he said. âI knew where I was going, I was going out the door and that had to happen. You donât make arrangements and walk away from them, even though when I took the senior coaching job I knew would love it.ââ
His inflammatory speech was misinterpreted, he said.
âMy mindset was, I just told the people I loved coaching and I knew I couldnât coach Essendon because they had a coach and I wasnât going to take the coachâs position.
âI said I couldnât take a step back, that I couldnât be coach of 2014 and be in the background in 2015 at the same club. It didnât make sense. I just told the people I loved them and told the players I actually enjoyed coaching them.â
âI knew I couldnât play a second role at Essendon and I heard there were a couple of other clubs (interested) and I wanted to tell the world that I enjoy coaching. So I did, why not, and it mightâve got a few people angry, but thatâs the way it is.â
THE DOPING SAGA
CLEARLY, the AFL/ASADA investigation has taken its toll, as it has on everyone. He maintains the players should not be penalised.
âI didnât think (the club was) doing anything illegal, but what they were doing (injection program) was probably uncomfortable with me,â he said.
âIt consumed a lot of our time when we should have been focused on other things, on football.â
Through 2013, Thompson was ferociously angry and privately militant. He wanted the club and Hird and everyone involved to fight until they could fight no more.
Often he would wake up at 2am and read the newspapers online, such was the itch which forever needed scratching.
âIn 2013, thatâs the way I felt. I was angry. I was being accused of something which I wasnât guilty of,â he said.
âNow, Iâve got to live with being accused of being a drug cheat. I still wake up at times and know myself I donât want to accept it, but you canât do much about the power of people, the power of the world.
âPeople are going to have their opinions based on what they know. Some know a lot, some know very little, and if they think we are guilty of that, then thatâs what they think.
âIâm sad it happened because thereâs been so much carnage, itâs a demolition trail really.â
He parked his anger and frustration through 2014, and endeavoured at his press conferences to be bubbly and informative.
He says that behaviour is his true self.
âI thought the footy club, the Essendon supporters, membership and even people who supported other clubs deserved more from Essendon,â he said. âMore honesty, to be more interesting, to be informative, to be entertaining.
âThatâs pretty much me in my life. I like to enjoy life. Iâm very serious about footy and I made an attempt to actually give our supporters an insight to whatâs going on in the coachâs box, whatâs happening in a game, whatâs happened at training, at selection, dealing with the players ⌠if I could do my best work there it would help in some way.ââ
SUNSHINE STATE-BOUND?
AROUND the time the Bombers contemplated sacking Hird, Thompson was linked to the vacant coaching job at Gold Coast, which perhaps forced Essendonâs hand to ask if he would consider the Essendon role if they sacked Hird.
His former manager Michael Quinlan contacted the Suns, which was revealed to the media.
âI never asked him to ring,â Thompson said. âThey made contact and he made contact with me.â
Did you want the job?
âIf youâre in Mexico and not in peopleâs faces and not in a hurry to find out whatâs going on, youâre probably donât want the job.â
It was also around this time that rumours of Thompsonâs private life were being circulated and, one plus one, the Suns dropped off Thompson.
âI find there are some awful people out there who like to spread gossip,â he said. âItâs not right.
âIâve had problems these past couple of years. Iâve been fighting with the AFL, itâs been a war, and in war people do some horrible things.
âUnfortunately, itâs not whether you win or lose, or what the truth is, it doesnât matter. The big players in this always win and the little players, the individuals, get squashed and walked upon.\
âI know for a fact there have been some stories started by some people, yes.ââ
Thompson pauses countless times in an hour-long talk. He pauses here. He could smear many people as they have smeared him, but he chooses not to.
The war is over for him.
Signed on at 3AW and looking to join the speaking circuit while pursuing his property interests, as well as continuing his role on Fox Footyâs AFL360, Thompson hopes he doesnât get the coaching bug again.
âI want to be very good at these next jobs so I donât have to go back to coaching. Hopefully I donât get that pull, hopefully I can live without it.â
Unsure who is more angry - Bomber or some blitzers in this thread.
Sorry that I canât seem to make the pictures come up when posting on my iMac.
Mark Thompson ready for next life stage after grumpy few years at Essendon
MARK ROBINSON HERALD SUN JANUARY 29, 2015 10:00PM
Mark Thompson starts a new life after leaving Essendon.
MARK Thompson has been angry for two years.
It was a war, he said, as the AFL and ASADA and the accusations, the allegations and the headlines made almost every day unbearably intense.
He found some solace last year coaching Essendon, doing what he does best, losing himself in what he calls the purity of football.
âPurity of footy is the thing that has driven me,â he said.
âIâve tried stay in that zone as long as I could each day in my life. But more and more, like the past couple of years, it has taken away from that to the point where itâs affecting your happiness in life.â
The war is now over for Bomber.
After 33 consecutive seasons in club land, he starts a new life.
He will still be erratic, strong-minded, arrogant, confident, whimsical, quirky, funny and honest. But he wonât be in footy.
He started in January, 1981, in Essendonâs under-19s team, being coached by Kevin Morris, a fresh-faced, stocky left-footer from Airport West, just around the corner from Windy Hill
And he departed in November, 2014, still stocky, still a left-footer, a lot wiser, a little beaten up, but with a career colossal in achievement.
He was a three-time premiership player, a best and fairest winner, a club captain and a premiership captain at the Bombers and a two-time premiership coach at Geelong.
As a player he was fiercely competitive. As a coach, he was probably worse. He knew football. How to get the ball and what to do with it. He coached beautiful football, too. The Geelong team of 2007-2010 was purity in all its glory and for that, the game itself should say thanks.
Sadly, he hasnât been clapped out of footy, which is the gameâs shame. The game is so intensely competitive and so future-oriented, it hardly stops to smell the roses. Then again, Bomber isnât a roses type of guy.
Quite unbelievably to everyone outside of the club, Thompson was effectively sacked by the Bombers.
Mark Thompson is looking forward to the next chapter in his life. Picture: Colleen Petch
Mark Thompson is looking forward to the next chapter in his life. Picture: Colleen Petch
It wasnât all Essendonâs doing, for Thompson admits he can be a difficult individual.
Asked if he felt let down by the Bombers, he said: âA touch. I was to blame, too. It was a mix. We just couldnât work it out. But itâs the best for me and the club. Hirdy being there by himself, his own man, his own staff, and he can do the best he can. I wish him well.ââ
He says the next chapter in his life is both exciting and foreboding.
âIâm looking forward to it,â he said.
âIâm enjoying not having that commitment to go to game-plan meetings and training meetings and having that consistency of turning up to work. Itâs good, but at the same time I sometimes get lost and canât get going.
âThe other side of the coin is to learn how to initiate himself. Itâs not daunting so much. Itâs re-skilling yourself and pushing yourself to do it. Work pushes you out the door every day and nothing is pushing me out the door at the moment.â
WORKING WITH HIRDY
THE GOLDEN Ticket of Hird and Thompson â who both returned to Essendon in 2011 â was never as sparkling as was imagined.
The first season was rewarding, it was progressively a chore through 2012-13 and he coached in 2014.
âThe first year was a good year, I enjoyed it. The second year I didnât enjoy much. To be honest, I was thinking about leaving at the end of the second year.
âThe third year I didnât enjoy, and the fourth year, I wasnât even going to be there.
âFrom the start, it was a difficult role because everyone thought I had more influence than I did, and I didnât want to have the influence, I didnât want to be senior coach, I wanted to be a good support coach.
âBut being in the support role, you donât have that much influence. James is own man, his own coach and he would ask me something and Iâd give 100 per cent help, but he wasnât a puppet, he was the coach.
âThatâs been lost a bit. I felt uncomfortable when people thought I was pulling the strings when I clearly wasnât.â
He disputes he and Hird had fallen out after Thompsonâs speech at the best and fairest and says he wasnât promoting himself to replace Hird.
So the relationship didnât deteriorate?
âNo, I donât think it did,ââ he said. âI knew where I was going, I was going out the door and that had to happen. You donât make arrangements and walk away from them, even though when I took the senior coaching job I knew would love it.ââ
His inflammatory speech was misinterpreted, he said.
âMy mindset was, I just told the people I loved coaching and I knew I couldnât coach Essendon because they had a coach and I wasnât going to take the coachâs position.
âI said I couldnât take a step back, that I couldnât be coach of 2014 and be in the background in 2015 at the same club. It didnât make sense. I just told the people I loved them and told the players I actually enjoyed coaching them.â
âI knew I couldnât play a second role at Essendon and I heard there were a couple of other clubs (interested) and I wanted to tell the world that I enjoy coaching. So I did, why not, and it mightâve got a few people angry, but thatâs the way it is.â
THE DOPING SAGA
CLEARLY, the AFL/ASADA investigation has taken its toll, as it has on everyone. He maintains the players should not be penalised.
âI didnât think (the club was) doing anything illegal, but what they were doing (injection program) was probably uncomfortable with me,â he said.
âIt consumed a lot of our time when we should have been focused on other things, on football.â
Through 2013, Thompson was ferociously angry and privately militant. He wanted the club and Hird and everyone involved to fight until they could fight no more.
Often he would wake up at 2am and read the newspapers online, such was the itch which forever needed scratching.
âIn 2013, thatâs the way I felt. I was angry. I was being accused of something which I wasnât guilty of,â he said.
âNow, Iâve got to live with being accused of being a drug cheat. I still wake up at times and know myself I donât want to accept it, but you canât do much about the power of people, the power of the world.
âPeople are going to have their opinions based on what they know. Some know a lot, some know very little, and if they think we are guilty of that, then thatâs what they think.
âIâm sad it happened because thereâs been so much carnage, itâs a demolition trail really.â
He parked his anger and frustration through 2014, and endeavoured at his press conferences to be bubbly and informative.
He says that behaviour is his true self.
âI thought the footy club, the Essendon supporters, membership and even people who supported other clubs deserved more from Essendon,â he said. âMore honesty, to be more interesting, to be informative, to be entertaining.
âThatâs pretty much me in my life. I like to enjoy life. Iâm very serious about footy and I made an attempt to actually give our supporters an insight to whatâs going on in the coachâs box, whatâs happening in a game, whatâs happened at training, at selection, dealing with the players ⌠if I could do my best work there it would help in some way.ââ
SUNSHINE STATE-BOUND?
AROUND the time the Bombers contemplated sacking Hird, Thompson was linked to the vacant coaching job at Gold Coast, which perhaps forced Essendonâs hand to ask if he would consider the Essendon role if they sacked Hird.
His former manager Michael Quinlan contacted the Suns, which was revealed to the media.
âI never asked him to ring,â Thompson said. âThey made contact and he made contact with me.â
Did you want the job?
âIf youâre in Mexico and not in peopleâs faces and not in a hurry to find out whatâs going on, youâre probably donât want the job.â
It was also around this time that rumours of Thompsonâs private life were being circulated and, one plus one, the Suns dropped off Thompson.
âI find there are some awful people out there who like to spread gossip,â he said. âItâs not right.
âIâve had problems these past couple of years. Iâve been fighting with the AFL, itâs been a war, and in war people do some horrible things.
âUnfortunately, itâs not whether you win or lose, or what the truth is, it doesnât matter. The big players in this always win and the little players, the individuals, get squashed and walked upon.
âI know for a fact there have been some stories started by some people, yes.ââ
Thompson pauses countless times in an hour-long talk. He pauses here. He could smear many people as they have smeared him, but he chooses not to.
The war is over for him.
Signed on at 3AW and looking to join the speaking circuit while pursuing his property interests, as well as continuing his role on Fox Footyâs AFL360, Thompson hopes he doesnât get the coaching bug again.
âI want to be very good at these next jobs so I donât have to go back to coaching. Hopefully I donât get that pull, hopefully I can live without it.â
Thats ok, the pictures were pointless.
Was good to read it again tho.
A reply to: @BLOODSTAINED DEVILS regarding QuoteLink
Thats ok, the pictures were pointless.Was good to read it again tho.
This new forum software is bizarre, when I previewed the posted article, I couldnât see you had already posted the same article, so I happily posted it.
But when I came back, I find you apparently got in 11 minutes ahead of me. I think there must be an editing phase where only the poster can see his own post, and in the meantime other posts come out of that phase and get in between posts.
P.S. Nice tidying up job on the article, I think we were both doing a similar job at overlapping times.
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â â â â me ⌠man takes job ⌠muppets tear down the city walls. Personally I canât remember the last time I took the personal vendettas and hatreds of other, completely unrelated people, into account when I took a job.
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'âI find there are some awful people out there who like to spread gossip,â he said. âItâs not right.
âIâve had problems these past couple of years. Iâve been fighting with the AFL, itâs been a war, and in war people do some horrible things.
âUnfortunately, itâs not whether you win or lose, or what the truth is, it doesnât matter. The big players in this always win and the little players, the individuals, get squashed and walked upon.\
âI know for a fact there have been some stories started by some people, yes.ââ
Thompson pauses countless times in an hour-long talk. He pauses here. He could smear many people as they have smeared him, but he chooses not to.â
Um, Robbo. Have a look in the mirror mate.
A reply to: @Zimmer regarding QuoteLink
'âI find there are some awful people out there who like to spread gossip,â he said. âItâs not right.⌠and Fitzpatrick?âIâve had problems these past couple of years. Iâve been fighting with the AFL, itâs been a war, and in war people do some horrible things.
âUnfortunately, itâs not whether you win or lose, or what the truth is, it doesnât matter. The big players in this always win and the little players, the individuals, get squashed and walked upon.\
âI know for a fact there have been some stories started by some people, yes.ââ
Thompson pauses countless times in an hour-long talk. He pauses here. He could smear many people as they have smeared him, but he chooses not to.â
Um, Robbo. Have a look in the mirror mate.
Nothing shocking or surprising about that interview. I wish Bomba all the best, and hope he still finds a home at EFC.
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âIâve had problems these past couple of years. Iâve been fighting with the AFL, itâs been a war, and in war people do some horrible things.
âUnfortunately, itâs not whether you win or lose, or what the truth is, it doesnât matter. The big players in this always win and the little players, the individuals, get squashed and walked upon.
Needs to be highlighted.
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A reply to: @Deckham regarding QuoteLink
âIâve had problems these past couple of years. Iâve been fighting with the AFL, itâs been a war, and in war people do some horrible things.âUnfortunately, itâs not whether you win or lose, or what the truth is, it doesnât matter. The big players in this always win and the little players, the individuals, get squashed and walked upon.
Needs to be highlighted.
Yep. Definitely.
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Nothing to see in either of those articles, Iâm certainly not getting worked up over anything.
Lol at Robbo spinning out the interview/articles over a few days, still flogging the EFC horse and trying to sound profound in his observations, 50% of Blitzers are better writers.
Hopefully Bomber got 30k for the interview!
Search warrant executed for raid at Bombers house today. Interesting.
Typical Foxtel / Geelong Agoniser, Essendon Captain Not Geelong Premiership Coach⌠http://www.geelongadvertiser.com.au/news/victoria-police-raid-house-of-essendon-great-mark-bomber-thompson/news-story/
Got this from the link
{âmessageâ:âContent doesnât existâ,âcodeâ:404}
Extract from the police statement:
âDetectives from Southern Metro Divisional Response Unit and Geelong Divisional Response Unit are executing a warrant at Port Melbourne,â the statement said.
May suggest his time at the Cats. Either way its concerning.