Mark ‘Bomber’ Thompson may have been using cocaine as far back as 2009 when he coached Geelong to a premiership win over St Kilda.
In messages sent by a woman who Thompson had a brief relationship with in August 2009, the disgraced former coach is referred to as going on ‘skiing trips’ – a coded reference for cocaine use.
The revelations come a day after the 55-year old admitted in a Melbourne court that he used ice during the latter half of 2017, and said he was tempted to try LSD but ‘didn’t have the guts’.
Former AFL player and coach Mark ‘Bomber’ Thompson leaves the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court in Melbourne on Wednesday. He has admitted to using the deadly drug ice
A woman who had a relationship with Thompson in 2009 claims he was regularly taking cocaine and had struggled to cope following the breakdown of his latest relationship with a woman named ‘Jana’
Thompson was in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday fighting three drug trafficking charges and four of possession after a raid on his Port Melbourne property.
‘Ice, that’s it really,’ he said when asked about his drug use.
The former Essendon premiership captain and coach said it had become a habit.
‘I was smoking too much,’ he said.
‘It was a difficult time. I left the industry where I worked in a bad way.’
Thompson linked his struggles to Essendon’s supplements scandal, which rocked the club and league in 2012.
But in 2009, Thompson was at the top of his game as a successful AFL coach at Geelong.
The Cats took out the night premiership against Collingwood and went onto finish second on the ladder.
They beat the Saints in the Grand Final by 12 points that year to be crowned premiers.
By that time, Bomber had coached the Cats for nine years and would end his career at the Cats a year later.
Behind the scenes, Thompson’s life was in turmoil.
The woman used code words to refer to ‘cocaine’. It was referred to as ‘skiing’ and ‘going to the snow’
His marriage to his first wife had broken down, he was stressed over a property deal, and his old club Essendon had been knocking on his door.
In a series of Facebook messages sent between Thompson and a woman he had been seeing, ‘Bomber’ addressed his ‘lonely life’.
‘I ended it with Jana and since have not even felt like going near another girl. Yes, I have seen Simmo, had dinner with him and that night we went out I was at home when he and a mate dragged me out of the house,’ he wrote on August 2, 2009.
‘I wish I hadn’t gone because there were players out at Blue Martini that night. Big mistake.’
Bomber’s troubled life has been no secret among closed quarters and practically an open secret in the country town of Geelong.
Geelong’s former president Frank Costa admitted this week he had noticed Thompson’s life began to unravel towards the end of his Cats coaching tenure in 2009.
‘I saw it (erratic behaviour) towards the finish at Geelong, in 2010, and more since,’ Costa told afl.com.au.
‘I think that’s happened because his mind has been badly scrambled. I think those three things that I mentioned that happened to him in 2010 were too much for him.’
Former Bombers coach Mark Thompson poses with ex-wife Jana Thompson at the All Australian Team Announcement at Royal Exhibition Building on September 16, 2014
Thompson would go on to marry Jana Clack in 2012 and separate from her about three years later.
‘To be totally honest with you I am still struggling massively after the breakup. My God we were together for 3 1/2 years. She was only the second girl I have loved. Amazing hey but true,’ Bomber told the woman in 2009.
The woman, who Daily Mail Australia has chosen not to name, claimed she had been in a heated sexual relationship with Thompson at the time.
She alleged Thompson had been heavily using cocaine, which they referred to in code as ‘skiing trips’.
In Facebook messages seen by Daily Mail Australia, the woman talks about these alleged binge sessions by the troubled football star.
‘Despite what you may think, I genuinely care what happens to you… Your kids, your career are worth so much more than a night at the snow,’ she wrote two days after Bomber’s last message.
‘I worry for you Mark, everyday, I worry that you said that you did not want another scandal, yet you go skiing, I worry that you punish yourself for mistakes made and that you cannot forgive yourself,’ she says in another.
The woman makes various references to Bombers ‘trips to the snow’, which she claimed at the time were references to his use of cocaine.
There is no suggestion she was involved in the drug taking.
In video that has come back to haunt Thompson, he was captured joking about taking the drug ice while speaking on Fox Footy’s On The Couch program in 2009.
A photo of the woman Mark Thompson had a brief relationship with during 2009 while at the peak of his game. He would retire from Geelong the following year
‘I’ll retire and do something else. Like sell frozen water or something… Ice. I just bought into an ice business,’ he quipped.
In a message sent by Thompson to the woman that year, he outlined his struggle to cope while alone in Melbourne.
‘The last couple of weeks for me work, if not working then trying to find things to do in Melbourne, or spending time all alone in my house. I am alone a fair bit and for the first time in my life doing a lot of thinking, planning and reflection. I need to find a way forward in what is a very confusing time,’ he wrote.
The court heard on Wednesday the former coach had also struggled with loneliness following the Essendon supplements saga, which began in 2013.
Thompson told court he struggled with lonliness after the Essendon supplements scandal
Thompson had stepped in as head coach after James Hird was hit with a 12-month suspension for his role in the club’s supplements program, which saw players use a banned substance.
Thompson left the club after it decided to remain with Hird following the end of his suspension.
The court heard Thompson had spent up to 12 hours a day alone trading cryptocurrency after leaving the AFL ‘in a bad way’.
In 2009, Thompson ominously stated words that would later come back to haunt him.
‘I totally messed up, which I have a habit of doing,’ he said.