Mark Robinson: Mark ‘Bomber’ Thompson on the turmoil of his past 10 years and being back coaching kids

A warehouse raid saw Mark ‘Bomber’ Thompson hit rock bottom. But he views the arrest differently while out the other side. Read the full interview with Mark Robinson.

Mark Bomber Thompson is back coaching at his junior football club in Airport West. Picture: Josie Hayden

Mark Thompson might be at his most content in 20 years.

The wacky laugh and wackier sense of humour gushes from a man who has lived the highs and survived the lows and whose existence now is an everyday adventure around simply enjoying a calm and organic life.

To be with him on a night like this — at his junior footy club, Airport West, as he trains the under 18s — is to be in the company of a thoroughly content man.

He’s bouncy again, Bomber. Less fidgety, less scatter-minded, if that makes sense.

His face — now at 58-years-old — just beams with health, happiness and confidence.

And while he still barracks for Geelong and Essendon in the AFL, he can be found on most weekends watching his son, Daniel, playing for Aberfeldie in the Essendon District League.

He’s just another dad in the crowd, he says.

But he’s really not.

Bomber Thompson was a two-time premiership coach at Geelong.

He’s Mark ‘Bomber’ Thompson, a premiership player, a premiership captain, a premiership coach, a member of the so-called Essendon drugs cartel and, most sensationally, a card-carrying member of the Mark Thompson Drugs Scandal.

It didn’t get much lower and scarier than being the sole member of that club, and that warehouse raid? Man, it seems surreal now.

“I’m going all right,’’ he said. ‘’I’m working, I’m doing these sorts of things occasionally, I was down at Tassie at the weekend and knocked around with the footy crowd down there.

“It’s the most content I’ve been for a long while. I’m pretty settled as far as work and having something to do during the day and I catch up with the family often.’’

Those other lives — the AFL and the police business?

“Yeah, gone, yep,’’ he said.

One of Mark 'Bomber' Thompson’s other lives — that had him caught up in legal drama — is now behind him. Picture: AAP Image

“You’ve got to leave footy at some time, and I didn’t leave in the best circumstances, but you know what, it gave me the chance to move on and do other things and find out a bit about the world, and be close to my family.

“I make better choices now, and I understand what’s happened.

“You know these past 10 years have gone quick, so quick. It’s almost like, what did I achieve in those 10 years ... I just survived.

“The past two years ... when did I go to court? It was 2019, so that’s three years, and it now seems long, long away.’’

Indeed, it was a rollicking football career for almost 30 years and a chaotic career for much of the last 12 years.

In no order of negativity, there was the Essendon drugs scandal, which led to depression and a deep drug dependence, which led to the warehouse raid, and then came the fear, the shame, the courthouse, and finally his freedom. And along the way, his second marriage failed.

Certainly, Thompson does not discuss the nitty gritty.

“The arrest … in some ways it was a relief,’’ he said.

Mark ‘Bomber’ Thompson puts the Airport West under-18s through their paces. Picture: Josie Hayden

“You know, people are great. I’ve never had so many people make contact and wish me all the best and offer help in any way. There’s a lot of good people in the world. We hear and read about a lot of bad things, but when bad things happened to me, every time people have been fantastic. The family has been fantastic. I just think the world is not that bad a place.

“Both the club’s people (Geelong and Essendon) ring me up.

“I feel sorry for people who haven’t got that support. People who find themselves alone. That would be tough … very tough.’’

Family is everything, he said. “In times of stress and need, they just turn up.’’

For a long time, maybe for two decades, football borrowed Thompson from his kids, and now that’s been reversed.

His two boys, Michael and Daniel, and his brother Steve’s two boys, Jaryd and Jacob, now run the family electrician business out of the factory in Airport West. Up one end of the factory is where Thompson makes his bespoke high-quality dining tables.

Bomber Thompson makes dining tables from the same factory his sons run an electrical business from. Picture: Alex Coppel

“We were never estranged, just wouldn’t see them that often, maybe once a week and now I see my boys every day,’’ Thompson said.

“It’s awesome. Every day, see them in their bad moods, in their good moods, see them when they’ve had a haircut, we’ve got things to talk about.’’

And vice versa, they saw all your moods?

“Yeah, I suppose a lot of blokes have a lot of regrets, but, you know, if you’re the man of the house, you have to provide. It takes you away from home doesn’t it?’’

On most Saturday afternoons, he watches Daniel play in the ones for Aberfeldie, where, he stresses, he’s just another dad in the crowd.

“I say nothing, I’ve not said a word ever,’’ he said. “You just have this fatherly attitude, where you just watch your son play, where he’s running and what he’s doing.’’

Daniel plays centre half-back and has the ability to play both tall and small.

“He’s six foot four, he’s a big boy and even though the boys are taller than me, they both look like me.’’

Thompson was recruited from Airport West to Windy Hill as a 17-year-old, where he became a club great. He became an AFL great via his coaching at Geelong, where he won two premierships and where he is held in tremendous reverence.

Mark Thompson became an Essendon great after being recruited from Airport West at 17.

He was a fundamentals coach and uncompromising with those fundamentals. It is said that he had wonderful attention to detail about the game, and at the core of that was to win contests.

It’s half mythical and have analytical, but it’s also said he could anticipate trends in games at their start, not after the opposition had kicked four goals.

On this night, the gang of under-18s were about to be preached from the Bible according to Bomber Thompson.

Asked why he was back at his junior footy club, he said: “I enjoy it. I still love the game and I certainly know how to coach. When I was senior coach, and when young people walked into the footy club, I know what sort of things you want to see in them.

“That’s what I talk to these kids about. I train them up.’’

Not so long ago in AFL footy, the senior coach being in his element was being in the middle of the ground, whistle around the neck, barking orders and encouragement during training drills he drew up. Today, assistant coaches control a lot of those aspects.

On Tuesday night, Bomber was in his element.

Bomber Thompson as the Airport West under-18s assistant coach. Picture: Josie Hayden

For these young men from Airport West, many of whom met Thompson when he visited the club at the start of pre-season, they were about to get fundamentals from the premiership playbook.

Rule 1? “I teach them to make sure they have enough numbers at the ball,’’ Thompson said.

Basically, it’s outnumbering the opposition at the play. Today’s terminology has labelled it winning the post-clearance contested ball. Bomber says he much prefers to use “outnumber’’.

“It was the No. 1 rule we had at Geelong,’’ he said.

“You know, I brought that from Essendon in 2000. I was at Geelong then, but Essendon did it in 2000. Actually, Essendon did it all my life that’s what we worked on. Numbers at the contest, Sheedy used to say, numbers at the contest.

“That’s what I’m telling the boys tonight.

“And don’t drift forward, because if there’s a mistake, you’re out of play. Teach them how not to drift forward. You’ve got to be in the right position when your teammate wins the ball to receive the handball, the exact right position. You can’t be too far forward and out of the contest.”

That’s Rule No. 2

And Rule No. 3?

“When you get the ball, run to a teammate, because that makes you outnumber again doesn’t it? It connects you. You can put a block on or receive a handball, and that gets the chain starting.’’

As he spoke to the group, Thompson was clearly energised.

“I was thinking about it today, about what I was going to say and what I was going to do, it’s preparation,’’ he said.

“I’ve also been doing a bit with Doutta Stars under-16s reserves team. My neighbour at work, his son plays there. I coached him last year one-on-one at the local oval and on the first night, I said, ‘I don’t think I can help you much because to me you look like a baby giraffe’.

“He ran like a baby giraffe, he kicked like a baby giraffe. He was 14 and taller than me. But we worked together and within a couple of weeks he started to look good.

“He kicked four goals last week, he took marks, he set up play. I didn’t think I’d be able to get his mechanics together, but we did.’’

Coaches love those little satisfactions. “That’s what the world’s about,’’ Thompson said. “Helping people.’’

Bomber Thompson passes on his knowledge to the Airport West under-18s. Picture: Josie Hayden

We listened in as Thompson gathered the under-18s in front of him. And he was true to his word.

“How many were here from last time? Come on hands up,’’ he said. “Who wasn’t here? Right, we’re going to do the same two drills again. You’ve got to be in the right position to get the handball and then cut across. And what do you do with the next defender? You make who’s defending come to you so we can free up your teammate to handball to.

“The second one we’re going to do? You remember? It’s four on two. That’s where we work on the outnumber at the ball. I did it with Douttas the other week, their under-16s, and they picked it up straight away. And I will be disappointed if you guys don’t do it because you’re smarter, bigger, stronger. So, let’s do it, and let’s have a good session.’’

Football will never leave Mark Thompson, for his life is soaked in it, but he has left the big league behind him.

In the end, it tormented him to the point where it almost helped destroy him.

Training nights like Tuesday, however, is football at its core.

He did it because it was a favour for a mate of his brother’s, a bloke he met 35 years ago.

What seems a lifetime later, here he was on a chilly, dark night, on a suburban footy ground, and in old footy boots and in a much older body, Thompson was back where it all started. “It’s good isn’t it,’’ he said.

He promised the coach he would return later in the season, and that just might be it for Bomber and his old footy club.

He is planning to buy property at Gisborne or Macedon. He wants to be a hobby farmer with, he said laughing, chooks, sheep and cows. He wants to grow veges and fruits, and will keep building his bespoke tables which he says he’s getting better with every one.

“Yeah, it will be good,’’ he said. “Life’s good.’’

Originally published as Mark Robinson: Mark ‘Bomber’ Thompson on the turmoil of his past 10 years and being back coaching kids