Mark Thompson says he is still consumed by Essendon supplement saga

MARK Thompson says he has been left “bitter and twisted” by the Essendon supplement saga which ruined his marriage and is “probably going to end up killing me”.

Mark Thompson during his tenure as Essendon coach. Picture: Wayne Ludbey

MARK Thompson is still consumed by the Essendon supplement saga and says “it’s probably going to end up killing me”.

Thompson describes himself as “bitter and twisted”, says he doesn’t like football any more and has blamed the four-year scandal for the breakdown of his second marriage.

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The Bombers’ 1993 premiership captain, who was fined $30,000 for his role in the saga and coached the club during James Hird’s one-year suspension, was the keynote speaker at a drugs in sport breakfast hosted by the Law Institute of Victoria today.

Fairfax Media reported Thompson told the breakfast he couldn’t let the saga go.

“I know more of what happened than probably most people, I’ve read that much about what was going on — it’s incredible,” Thompson said.

“And it just sits in my guts and churns and it still does and it’s going to probably end up killing me because I can’t let it go. People tell me I’ve got to let it go, but I can’t.

The Essendon saga still eats away at Mark Thompson. Picture: Wayne Ludbey

“I’m quite bitter and twisted and I think I have got the right to be. I don’t like the game any more, I don’t want to work in the AFL system, I don’t want to associate with people. I’m sorry, but that’s the way it is.

“I’ve lost my love for it, which is a shame because I’m a bloody good coach. It’s a shame they could do this to people. They’ve got no right to do this to people — you don’t not give people a chance to defend themselves, and that’s what they’ve done.

“I lost my wife because of it, I reckon, because I was up at night reading about all my exploits on the internet, catching up on tomorrow’s news as it came out.”

Thompson said the full truth of the saga still was yet to come out, sports scientist Stephen Dank should never have been employed by any AFL club and blamed former chairman David Evans for working too closely with the AFL when the scandal broke in 2013.

Thirty-four players were eventually suspended for the entire 2016 season as a result of the 2012 supplement program.

Essendon coach John Worsfold said after the Bombers’ loss to Adelaide last Saturday night that players returning from their bans this season had “hit the wall” four rounds into the season after a year on the sidelines.