Mark Thompson (footballer)

Mark Thompson
Personal information
Full name	Mark Thompson
Nickname(s)	Bomber
Date of birth	(1963-11-19) 19 November 1963
Place of birth	Melbourne, Victoria
Original team(s)	Airport West (EDFL)
Height/Weight	177 cm / 87 kg
Position(s)	Defender
Playing career1
Years	Club	Games (Goals)
1983–1996	Essendon	202 (50)
Representative team honours
Years	Team	Games (Goals)
1986	Victoria	1 (0)
Coaching career
Years	Club	Games (W–L–D)
2000–2010 2014 Total	Geelong Essendon	260 (161–96–3) 23 (12-10-1) 283 (173–106–4)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1996 season. 2 State and international statistics correct as of 2014.
Career highlights
Playing Essendon premiership player: 1984, 1985 Essendon premiership captain: 1993 Essendon Best & Fairest: 1987, 1990 Essendon captain: 1992-1995 Coaching Geelong premiership coach 2007, 2009 All-Australian coach 2007, 2009

Mark "Bomber" Thompson (born 19 November 1963) is a retired Australian rules footballer and former senior coach. He played 202 games for the Essendon Football Club from 1983 to 1996, captaining the side from 1992 until 1995. After retiring, he was an assistant coach at Essendon and then at North Melbourne before becoming the senior coach of the Geelong Football Club from 2000 to 2010 and coaching them to two premierships. In November 2010, Thompson returned to Essendon as senior assistant coach and was then appointed the senior coach for the 2014 season. He left the club at the end of 2014.

Playing career

Thompson played most of his football in the backline, gaining a reputation as a fierce competitor. He won the club award for "most determined player" in 1984 and 1986, "Most Improved Player" and "Best Clubman" in 1985, and best-and-fairest awards in 1987 and 1990. He also finished in the top five in the best-and-fairest on four other occasions. Thompson played in the 1984 and 1985 premiership sides, and captained the 1993 premiership team. In 2002, Thompson's contribution to the club was recognised when he was voted the 20th best Essendon player of all time in the "Champions of Essendon" list.

Coaching career

Geelong (2000–10)

As Geelong coach, Thompson was given an extended time to rebuild the club's playing list. The side finished 5th in 2000 as his first season as coach but was bundled out by 8th placed Hawthorn in the first week of the finals in the first finals match ever held at the Docklands Stadium. The club performed poorly for the next three seasons, missing the top 8. Thompson's position looked in danger, but in 2004 the side was a big improver, finishing fourth and making the Preliminary Finals. Due to his success in reinvigorating the club, Thompson's contract was extended until 2007. The following year (2005) the club finished sixth and was beaten in the Semi Finals by 3 points against the eventual premiers Sydney after leading for the majority of the match.

In 2006, however, the side eventually missed the finals after winning the NAB Cup and winning their first two matches in convincing style, leading them into flag favouritism. It was also a season where Thompson had used the 2005 semi-final loss to the Swans as motivation. Following a Round 22 61 point demolition at the hands of lower-placed Hawthorn, Thompson's job was under immense pressure.

After a very public review of the club it was decided that Thompson should keep his job as coach. After a shaky start to the 2007 season that led many supporters to believe that nothing had changed from the 2006 season Thompson led his team to a massive 15 match winning streak (the biggest in a single season in club history) and a 106 win against the Kangaroos in the Qualifying Final which is the 5th biggest finals winning margin in AFL/VFL history.

2007 then culminated in one of the biggest, if not the best highlight of Thompson's career, in both a coaching and footballer's role. Thompson coached Geelong to win the AFL premiership by more than 100 points – the highest winning margin in Grand Final history, against Port Adelaide Football Club at the MCG on 29 September. It was the club's first premiership since 1963, the year of Thompson's birth.

After the Essendon Football Club decided not to give Thompson's former mentor, Kevin Sheedy, a renewal of contract, there was speculation that Mark Thompson would take up the senior coaching role at Essendon for the 2008 season. However, with trade week quickly approaching, the club instead appointed Matthew Knights to the position.

After their record breaking win in the grand final, Thompson's Cats were red hot favourite to repeat their 2007 success and their form during the year did nothing to change that. The Cats went 21–1 to claim the McClelland Trophy four games ahead of their nearest challenger, Hawthorn. After relatively easy wins against St Kilda and the Western Bulldogs in the finals, Geelong were into their second straight grand final, this time against Hawthorn, and were again hot favourites. In an upset, though, the Hawks beat Geelong by 26 points in front of 100,012 fans.

During an end-of-season holiday to New York that year, Thompson ran into Melbourne Storm coach Craig Bellamy whilst inside a hotel. They were said to have drowned their sorrows following their respective Grand Final losses (Bellamy's Melbourne Storm lost the 2008 NRL Grand Final to Manly).

In 2009 following a heartbreaking loss to Hawthorn in the 2008 Premiership decider, Geelong compiled an 18–4 record during the minor round and disposed of the Western Bulldogs and then Collingwood during the finals series. On 26 September, his Cats faced a St Kilda side determined to break its 43 year Premiership drought. In front of 99,251 fans on a rain-soaked MCG deck the Cats clawed their way back after trailing at every break to win by 12 points. This would be Geelong's second flag in three years cementing their place as one of the great teams of the modern era. Thompson as always was magnanimous in victory and accepted the AFL Premiership trophy alongside Geelong legend Bob Davis.

After Geelong were eliminated from the preliminary finals to Collingwood, at the conclusion of the 2010 season, on 4 October 2010, Thompson announced his retirement and resignation as Geelong coach effective immediately, his reason being that he was "tired of coaching" after a decade at the helm.

Essendon (2010–14)

On 10 November 2010, Thompson signed a lucrative contract to be the senior assistant coach of Essendon, putting an end to weeks of speculation following his resignation from Geelong. According to football writer and commentator Caroline Wilson's sources his contract was said to be worth $650,000 per year. He was appointed the senior coach for the 2014 season while James Hird served his suspension, and left the club after Hird returned as senior coach at the end of that year.

2013 supplements controversy

Following months of rumours and investigations, on 13 August 2013, Thompson, along with the Essendon Football Club, senior coach James Hird, football manager Danny Corcoran and club doctor Bruce Reid, was charged by the AFL with bringing the game into disrepute in relation to the supplements program at the club in 2011 and 2012. The club was given 14 days to consider the charges and faced an AFL Commission hearing on 26 August 2013. On 27 August 2013, Thompson was fined $30,000 for his role in the supplements saga.

Statistics

Playing statistics

†	Denotes seasons in which Thompson won an AFL Premiership
	Led the league for the Season only*
	Led the league after finals only*
	Led the league after Season and Finals*

*10 games required to be eligible.

Season	Team	#	Games	G	B	K	H	D	M	T	G	B	K	H	D	M	T
			Totals								Averages (per game)
1983	Essendon	26	2	1	0	22	10	32	3	—	0.5	0.0	11.0	5.0	16.0	1.5	—
1984†	Essendon	26	20	4	3	203	143	346	60	—	0.2	0.2	10.2	7.2	17.3	3.0	—
1985†	Essendon	26	23	5	5	261	188	449	71	—	0.2	0.2	11.3	8.2	19.5	3.1	—
1986	Essendon	26	22	2	3	247	192	439	93	—	0.1	0.1	11.2	8.7	20.0	4.2	—
1987	Essendon	26	18	16	9	217	131	348	75	32	0.9	0.5	12.1	7.3	19.3	4.2	1.8
1988	Essendon	26	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1989	Essendon	26	10	0	1	134	76	210	40	10	0.0	0.1	13.4	7.6	21.0	4.0	1.0
1990	Essendon	26	24	7	8	321	198	519	114	28	0.3	0.3	13.4	8.3	21.6	4.8	1.2
1991	Essendon	26	9	6	3	106	58	164	35	9	0.7	0.3	11.8	6.4	18.2	3.9	1.0
1992	Essendon	26	21	5	2	300	169	469	81	22	0.2	0.1	14.3	8.0	22.3	3.9	1.0
1993†	Essendon	26	21	2	0	330	180	510	91	25	0.1	0.0	15.7	8.6	24.3	4.3	1.2
1994	Essendon	26	13	1	1	140	84	224	51	19	0.1	0.1	10.8	6.5	17.2	3.9	1.5
1995	Essendon	26	11	0	2	99	65	164	32	10	0.0	0.2	9.0	5.9	14.9	2.9	0.9
1996	Essendon	26	8	1	1	84	42	126	37	12	0.1	0.1	10.5	5.3	15.8	4.6	1.5
Career			202	50	38	2464	1536	4000	783	167	0.2	0.2	12.2	7.6	19.8	3.9	1.2

Coaching statistics

†	Denotes seasons in which Thompson won an AFL Premiership

Season	Team	Games Coached	Wins	Losses	Draws	Points %	Ladder Position	League Teams
2000	Geelong	23	12	10	1	54.3%	5	16
2001	Geelong	22	9	13	0	40.9%	12	16
2002	Geelong	22	11	11	0	50.0%	9	16
2003	Geelong	22	7	14	1	34.1%	12	16
2004	Geelong	25	16	9	0	64.0%	4	16
2005	Geelong	24	13	11	0	54.2%	5	16
2006	Geelong	22	10	11	1	47.7%	10	16
2007†	Geelong	25	21	4	0	84.0%	1	16
2008	Geelong	25	23	2	0	92.0%	1	16
2009†	Geelong	25	21	4	0	84.0%	2	16
2010	Geelong	25	18	7	0	72.0%	2	16
2014	Essendon	23	12	10	1	54.3%	7	18
Career totals		283	173	106	4	61.84%	5.83	16.17

Honours and achievements

Brownlow Medal votes
Season	Votes
1983	—
1984	—
1985	1
1986	6
1987	4
1988	—
1989	3
1990	3
1991	—
1992	1
1993	5
1994	—
1995	—
1996	—
Total	23
Key:
Green / Bold = Won * = joint winner
Red / Italics = Ineligible

Playing honours

Team

• VFL/AFL Premiership (Essendon): 1984, 1985, 1993 (C)
• McClelland Trophy (Essendon): 1984, 1985, 1990, 1993 (C)
• AFL Pre-Season Cup (Essendon): 1993 (C)
• Night Series Winner (Essendon): 1984

Individual

• W. S. Crichton Medal (Essendon F.C. B&F): 1987, 1990
• Essendon F.C. Best Clubman Award: 1985
• Essendon F.C. Most Determined Player Award: 1984, 1986
• Essendon F.C. Most Improved Player Award: 1985
• State of Origin Representative Honours: 1986
• Essendon F.C. Captain: 1992–1995
• Essendon F.C. Team of the Century - Back Pocket
• Champions of Essendon - 20th

Coaching honours

Team

• VFL/AFL Premiership (Geelong): 2007, 2009
• McClelland Trophy (Geelong): 2007, 2008
• Pre-Season Cup (Geelong): 2006, 2009

Individual:

• Jock McHale Medal: 2007, 2009
• All-Australian: 2007, 2009
• AFLCA Coach of the Year Award: 2007, 2008
• Victorian Coach for AFL Hall of Fame Tribute Match: 2008

External links

• Mark Thompson's statistics from AFL Tables
• Mark Thompson coaching record and statistics at FootyWire.com

Sporting positions
Preceded by Tim Watson	Essendon Football Club captain 1992–1995	Succeeded by Gary O'Donnell
Preceded by Gary Ayres	Geelong Football Club coach 2000–2010	Succeeded by Chris Scott
Awards
Preceded by Glenn Hawker Tim Watson	W.S. Crichton Medal 1987 1990	Succeeded by Tim Watson Alan Ezard
Preceded by John Worsfold Alastair Clarkson	Jock McHale Medal 2007 2009	Succeeded by Alastair Clarkson Mick Malthouse