Mark "Bomber" Thompson - Overrated? | PUNT ROAD END | Richmond Tigers Forum
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Mark "Bomber" Thompson - Overrated?

tigerjoe

tigerjoe

EAT 'EM ALIVE TIGERS!
Aug 24, 2003
2,602
128
Melbourne
We all know and envy how good Geelong have been for so long.

Much of their success has been attributed to former coach Mark Thompson.

But this season has blown that theory out of the water. Chris Scott in his first year as coach of an AFL side is on the verge of winning a flag, and IMHO the cats are favourites because their form going into and during the finals has been better than the mugpies.

So what did Thompson bring to the cats?
Good game plans?
Good list management?
New set plays?

I say none of the above.

While you cannot argue that Thompson can coach, the loss of Gary Ablett, a new coach and game style has seen the Cats just as successful as the last few years. The loss of Ablett surely cannot be underestimated.

Why have they been so good?

Because they simply have had the best players, coupled with the best recruiter in Stephen Wells, the best admin in Costa/Cook and a decent set of coaches which included Sanderson, Hinkley and Thompson.

Most importantly they have had stability.

Could the same be said for the scum and Malthouse?
 
From where they came I'd say no, Thompson was within a whisker of being sacked until that fateful day when Richmond played them into some extraordinary form. He also showed a lot of patience with some late developers like Enright and Stevie J, did well in securing Ottens and took players like Ablett and Bartel to the next level. Any dual premiership coach deserves all the accolades he can get, whether his contributions at Essendon will be fruitful is anyone's guess.
 
Thompson built that list from the ground up. Geelong in 2003 were about where we're at now. No doubt at all the guy can coach.

On the other hand, we'll find out how good Chris Scott is when the Cats lose top players to retirement over the next two years. By rights, Geelong should've come back to the pack this season, but have sustained their dominance through careful player management. Will be amazed if 2011 isn't their last hurrah.
 
Anyone who thinks Mark thompson was over rated would have to say the same about Mick Malthouse.

Supposedly Malthouse failed to get the best out of his early Eagles squad and should have won more than two flags with them.

What a joke! You don't win one flag in the current competition without knowing what you are about, let alone a couple.
 
LeeToRainesToRoach said:
Thompson built that list from the ground up. Geelong in 2003 were about where we're at now. No doubt at all the guy can coach.

On the other hand, we'll find out how good Chris Scott is when the Cats lose top players to retirement over the next two years. By rights, Geelong should've come back to the pack this season, but have sustained their dominance through careful player management. Will be amazed if 2011 isn't their last hurrah.
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Leysy thought the same about the Cats this year. No way they would have played as well if Thompson was still coach.

The other lesson leysy learnt was to never ever underestimate the genius of Stephen Wells. Fraught with danger. Good chance he'll keep the production line rolling along.
 
Leysy Days said:
The other lesson leysy learnt was to never ever underestimate the genius of Stephen Wells. Fraught with danger. Good chance he'll keep the production line rolling along.
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Maybe so, but history says teams dropping in average age don't contend for the flag. Geelong's is a seriously old list. Something's gotta give.
 
Leysy Days said:
The other lesson leysy learnt was to never ever underestimate the genius of Stephen Wells.
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Genius? Just about every poster on PRE is as good a judge of talent, if not better.
 
The answer is an emphatic "No!".

I think Scott has proven very little as a coach. He's basically taken an existing product and stuck a clock in it. All the hard work was done by Thomson and his assistants over the previous decade.

Didn't Gary Ayres take Geelong to a Grand Final in his first year as coach?
 
TigerFurious said:
The answer is an emphatic "No!".

I think Scott has proven very little as a coach. He's basically taken an existing product and stuck a clock in it. All the hard work was done by Thomson and his assistants over the previous decade.

Didn't Gary Ayres take Geelong to a Grand Final in his first year as coach?
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Exactly. Plenty of coaches have taken a well performed team and continued that trend the next year. Robert Walls for one. Scott's test begins in the next couple of years as the nucleus of premiership players start dropping off. They have plenty who don't have a lot of time left.
 
GoodOne said:
Exactly. Plenty of coaches have taken a well performed team and continued that trend the next year. Robert Walls for one. Scott's test begins in the next couple of years as the nucleus of premiership players start dropping off. They have plenty who don't have a lot of time left.
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Playing devil's advocate for a moment, isn't that more or at least as much about the List Management team over the next few years, or even the List Management team recently?
 
Plenty of good coaches never get to grand finals and some of moderate coaches do.

The coach is only one cog in a huge team machine and getting to play finals needs all the parts running together smoothly.
All the clubs that perform consistently through a finals era have quality board/management, RECRUITING, medical/fitness, coaching/development departments working well together.
Clubs that skimp, ignore or are deficient in any of the core areas may bounce into the finals occaissionally but generally just bounce along the bottom half of the ladder.
It helps if you also have excellent finances to enable you to access the best systems available.

Brisvegas, Wet Coke, Syd, Cats, Pies, even Pordadalayde have all done extremely well in recent years because they've had all these core areas functioning well together. As soon as the core systems start to unravel a bit clubs can end up like the current Brisvegas and Pordadalayde very quickly.
 
Phar Ace said:
Playing devil's advocate for a moment, isn't that more or at least as much about the List Management team over the next few years, or even the List Management team recently?
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Sure is. I guess the question being asked though, was Thompson influential in Geelong's success, or does Scott's performance this year prove otherwise?
 
GoodOne said:
... I guess the question being asked though, was Thompson influential in Geelong's success, or does Scott's performance this year prove otherwise?
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It seems like a trick question. Surely a coach has to have been influential in the success if a team wins 2 premierships under his reign. I don't see how it could be argued otherwise.
 
TigerMasochist said:
The coach is only one cog in a huge team machine and getting to play finals needs all the parts running together smoothly.
All the clubs that perform consistently through a finals era have quality board/management, RECRUITING, medical/fitness, coaching/development departments working well together.
Clubs that skimp, ignore or are deficient in any of the core areas may bounce into the finals occaissionally but generally just bounce along the bottom half of the ladder.
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Exactly right. The modern coach sets the strategy, gets the right staff alongside him and spend most of his time ensuring that he is getting the best out of his staff (fitness, coach etc). Makes sure everyone is working to the same plan. He is senior management. He trusts that his assistants will convey the game plan, develop and find the talent. He may not even attend all the training sessions and will not be at most of the meetings when the assistants talk to their playing group.

Modern coach probably focuses more on getting his assistants to perform than his players.
 
GoodOne said:
Sure is. I guess the question being asked though, was Thompson influential in Geelong's success, or does Scott's performance this year prove otherwise?
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Or is Scott benefitting from the work done by Thompson?

Seem to recall Frawley "inheriting" some players and looking good early in his coaching career as well.
 
I don't rate Bomber that highly. Weakest double premiership winning coach if you ask me. But he's still a double premiership winning coach.
 
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