Essendon failed Mark ‘Bomber’ Thompson and me: James Hird

James Hird says the club’s failure to support he and Mark Thompson has contributed to the latter’s stunning fall from grace.

James Hird and Mark Thompson together during their coaching days at Essendon. Picture: Wayne Ludbey

Essendon’s former champion James Hird says Essendon’s failure to support himself and Mark Thompson has contributed to the latter’s stunning fall from grace.

Hird says the AFL club did not help the pair enough amid the fallout from the supplements scandal that embroiled the club when they were in coaching roles in 2013.

He met up with his former premiership captain Thompson after the latter was charged on Tuesday with drug trafficking offences.

Hird, who was Essendon coach at the time of the supplements scandal which caused significant problems for the Bombers and the individuals involved, is devastated by the plight of his former right-hand man.

The Brownlow Medallist played alongside Thompson in the 1993 premiership before working with him during his troubled time as Essendon coach and met him on Wednesday to offer his support.

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In a podcast with fellow Brownlow Medallist Shane Crawford, Hird attributed his coach’s legal predicament in part to the toll the long-running supplements scandal had on him.

“Football, rightly or wrongly, was our identity. Over time (the controversy) stripped away our identity, our value and our worth,” Hird said.

“When people do that to you, you are vulnerable to go down a path ... that maybe you wouldn’t have gone down otherwise.”

Mark ‘Bomber’ Thompson leaves his Port Melbourne warehouse on Wednesday. Picture: Mark Stewart

Hird, who overdosed on sleeping pills in January last year as he struggled to cope with the aftermath of the scandal, said people had attempted to help Thompson.

“A lot of people have reached out to try and help. I thought he had come out the other side, but obviously he was very scarred by the ASADA stuff,” he said.

He said Essendon did not provide enough support to those at the forefront of the scandal as they attempted to work through a protracted legal process while trying to shield the footballers during the crisis.

“The people inside the club at the time were not about supporting emotionally the people who were going through those times,” he said.

Thompson was this week charged with two counts of trafficking ecstasy, one of trafficking methamphetamine, a count of possessing each drug and further counts of possessing LSD and a prescription drug without a prescription.

He was bailed following an out-of-sessions hearing at Melbourne Magistrates Court on Tuesday night.