Thompson says AFL scandal will kill him

Mark Thompson remains bitter and twisted after the Essendon supplements debacle and fears it will eventually kill him.

Thompson was a Bombers assistant coach under James Hird at the time of the disastrous supplements program and the AFL fined him for his part in the saga.

He said he could not let the saga go, particularly how the AFL and ASADA handled their joint investigation.

The two-time Geelong premiership coach and two-time Essendon premiership player said it had cost him his second marriage.

“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.

“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.”

Thompson was speaking in Melbourne on Thursday morning at a drugs in sport forum, organised by the Law Institute of Victoria.

He added the full truth of the saga was yet to be revealed and said the Bombers should never have worked with banned sports scientist Stephen Dank, the architect of the doomed supplements program.

“I’ve lost my love for it (the game), which is a shame because I’m a bloody good coach,” Thompson said.

“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.”

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