James Hird is overseas and will not make it back in time, but Mark “Bomber” Thompson will return to the Essendon fold to be among those gathering for the 30-year reunion of the 1993 premiership on Friday night.
Hird lives half the year overseas and attempted to get back for the reunion but was unable to manage business commitments, former teammate Mark Harvey said. However, most of the team, including three-time premiership player Thompson, will be at the MCG function.
Mark Harvey sprays Mark Thompson with champagne after the 1993 grand final.Credit: The Age archives
Hird had been disappointed to miss out on a return to the Essendon coaching job ultimately won by Brad Scott, a sentiment shared by his former coach and current board member Kevin Sheedy, but that was not a reason for his absence, the club said.
Former captain and ’93 premiership player Tim Watson will be at the reunion. His relationship with Hird cooled in recent times after Watson didn’t endorse Hird coming back as coach. The pair recently saw one another at a funeral without issue, but they are not close.
It will be the most public, and largest, reconnection to the club of the 1993 premiership captain, Thompson, since his drug troubles of several years ago.
In January 2018, police raided Thompson’s Port Melbourne warehouse, finding a large number of ecstasy tablets and more than 30 grams of ice. He was later found guilty of drug possession, fined $3000 and ordered to undergo rehabilitation.
Through that period he became distant from many of his old teammates but Thompson, who also coached Geelong to two premierships, has been attempting to steadily rebuild his life and renewed many of those football connections.
The reunion is the first official gathering of that critical group of players in several years, with the 20-year reunion a low-key dinner organised by the players. The club was engulfed in the drugs saga for that milestone.
“Most of the boys will be there. Longy [Michael Long] is coming down, Hirdy is overseas, ‘Bomber’ will be there, Gavin Wanganeen is coming, Gary O’Donnell lives in Perth now, and he is coming over. [David] Grenvold is coming. Ricky Olarenshaw lives in Bali, so he can’t make it, and Peter Somerville is in Queensland now and it’s his daughter’s 18th,” said Harvey who in his role at the club now is helping organise the function.
James Hird celebrates a goal in the 1993 decider.Credit: Jim Hooper
More than 400 people will attend the function at the MCG which will be held in conjunction with the club’s hall of fame.
“That flag sort of came out of nowhere, so that creates this appreciation among the players [that] we did something pretty special. How we could do that has created an enormous bond over the years. It was the most fascinating season,” Harvey said.
Seven of the young Bombers team in 1993 – Dustin Fletcher, Dean Wallis, Mark Mercuri, Hird, Long, Joe Misiti and Darren Bewick – went on to play in the 2000 flag, but it is remarkable to think the powerhouse club has only won one flag in the 30 years since that stunning 1993 premiership win over Carlton and has not won a final since 2004.
“You never know in footy. There was an influx of new teams and players, they were interstate clubs, more travel, changes to rules, and the way we were coached then is different to now,” Harvey said.
“But, no, you would not have thought after ’93 that it would be so long with one more flag.”
Harvey was bullish about the young Bombers’ improvement, particularly bearing in mind the top draft picks from the 2020 draft who are still hoped to be the nucleus of the side for a long time to come have barely played.
Of the three top-10 picks in the 2020 national draft: Nik Cox (pick 8) has played 27 games but none this year; Archie Perkins (pick 9) has played 51 games, 12 this year; while Zach Reid, who was pick 10, has played just eight games and none this year. Elijah Tsatas, pick five from last year’s draft, has been injured all year and is yet to make his debut.
“Brad Scott said after the game on the weekend we were younger than North Melbourne, which gives you an indication the list is heading in the right direction,” Harvey said.
The reunion is timed to coincide with the Carlton match on Sunday night, the club the Bombers defeated in 1993 to claim a surprise flag.
Harvey said the deep rivalry with Carlton was not contrived.
Michael Long gets his hands on the cup.Credit: Stuart Hannagan
“I grew up in the era where we had that great winning streak against Carlton. I think we went 15 games in a row or something,” he said.
“We played in 1984, ’85, myself and Bomber as young players, and we got targeted by Carlton. Wayne Blackwell and those guys just went after us. I think I was playing on David Glascott and they went at us and it was just, ‘Ok keep coming, keep coming’.
“Craig Bradley was on the bus with us. He was supposed to be coming to Essendon when he came over from South Australia and he ended up at Carlton.”
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