Mark ‘Bomber’ Thompson lifts lid on deciding to accept role of presenting Jock McHale Medal and returning to AFL fold

Champion AFL coach Mark ‘Bomber’ Thompson has lifted the lid on his decision to make a public return to the game after years in relative obscurity.

Geelong’s 2007 and 2009 premiership winning coach has agreed to president the Jock McHale Medal to the premiership winning coach on grand final day this year after spending nearly a decade out of the spotlight.

Thompson is a legend of the game winning three flags as a player at Essendon and then two more during his time at the Cats as head coach before returning to the Bombers as an assistant in 2010.

But the 59-year-old has been largely absent since the Essendon supplement saga in 2014 and later being charged with drug-related offences in 2018.

Thompson has now revealed he has forgiven himself and the AFL for any grudges he held over his unceremonious exit.

“It’s been a while… I was really aggressive and I was really defensive and trying to honour your name and get your name cleared and everything else. But then it goes to a point where you just lose interest in footy, which I did, and now I’m starting to come back,” he told Channel 9’s Footy Classified.

“Time heals everything and it’s all healed for me now. You still talk about it, it’s still there, I can’t get rid of it. But it’s not as if I hang onto it now. You just let it go. It is what it is.

“I haven’t got a grudge anywhere. I still love Essendon, I still love all the people there. It’s not a problem with me and football. I didn’t want a role in football, but I’m happy to watch it… and show people that I have forgiven and tie a knot with the AFL to say we’re back on track.”

Despite previously struggling to watch football and reconcile with the game Thompson said there would be no hard feelings when meeting with AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan and other representatives on grand final day.

“You can’t have ill will. We’re lucky to be alive, you know? There’s a lot going on in the world and we’re all getting a bit older… You just get on with it,” he said.

Thompson won two premierships as head coach of the Geelong Cats in 2007 (pictured) and 2009. Picture: News Corp

“Who would I have to make up with? Andrew Demetriou? Well if I saw Andrew, I’d say hello to him. Gill McLachlan? Same.

“I’ll be normal (on Grand Final day). Go in and say hello … Bring your camera there but you won’t see anything. There’ll be nothing for the news.”

McLachlan said he was “thrilled” to welcome Thompson back to the AFL when announcing his role as the presenter of the Jock McHale Medal earlier this month.

“I won’t speak for Mark, but I think in our game, people make mistakes. I think we have an ability to actually welcome people back and continue to celebrate their place and their role in the game, and that is certainly where Mark is,” McLachlan said

“He was a great player and a significant coach, and I’m really pleased he’s going to be presenting the trophy to the premiership coach.

“I hope it’s significant for Mark, and I think it’s significant for the game.”

In 2013 Essendon was hit with a major doping breach with 34 past and present players found guilty of taking a banned peptide during the 2012 season with Thompson fined $30,000 and then-head coach James Hird sacked.

Mark Thompson was a champion player as well as legendary coach. Picture: News Limited

Thompson insists the pair are still close and the news that Hird had tried to commit suicide helped him turn a corner.

“Hirdy and I are mates. We don’t talk to each other that often, but we’ve had each other’s backs and we’re going to continue to do that and support each other,” he said.

“But I’m not the sort of bloke that hangs around too many people. I’m a bit of a loner and introvert. I just like to muck around and do things on my own.

“I reckon the night I heard Hirdy tried to take his life was probably the one. That was really where I said, ‘Why does the game need to get to this point?’ That was a bit of a wake-up call for everyone I reckon. That was a wake-up call for me, don’t take it so serious.”

Following the saga Thompson’s life went from bad to worse as his marriage broke down in 2019 and later that year was charged with drug possession following a raid on his Port Melbourne home.

Thompson was using the drug ice telling a court in 2019 it was to “mask the pain” and that he was in a “bad place”.

SOURCE: SKYNEWS