FORMER Essendon coach Mark ‘Bomber’ Thompson has launched an extraordinary attack on both the media and the handling of the Bombers’ drugs saga, which continues to drag on.

In his regular segment on AFL 360, Thompson responded to claims that he’s no longer close with senior management at the club.

“I’ve fallen out of love with Essendon, not the individuals,” Thompson said.

“(I wasn’t) having a go at James Hird … just having a go at the way it is.”

Asked about his comments that the Bombers are ‘drowning’ as they sit 15th with a 5-13 record, Thompson explained that everyone knew what he was talking about.

“The place is no better than it was. Three years they’ve been sitting idle,” he said.

He accused the media as a whole of undermining James Hird as senior coach of the club.

Asked if Hird’s days were numbered, he said, “Ultimately, I don’t want them to be, but I think you’ll get your mark.

“You (the media) get people, you know? You shake them. There’s a groundswell that happens, isn’t there?

“If Essendon were doing their job properly, they’d say ‘you know what? We’ll choose who coaches this football club, not anyone else’.

“If they want James to be coach, tell him, sign him up and go with him. They shouldn’t be controlled by anyone else. They are a part of the AFL but they’re an independent club and they should be able to choose themselves.”

Thompson praised Brendon Goddard’s comments on Tuesday night’s AFL 360 where he complained of the constant leaks from “cowards” who have “no respect and no compassion for the players”.

“Brendon Goddard? Beauty! Get into it, boys! I wish more players would’ve said that!” Thompson said.

“I’m not blaming the media (for the long ASADA process). Goddard what he said last night, is living proof of someone who wasn’t intimately involved in the program, but he was as close as anyone, he’s in the locker rooms with these boys.

“And he’s right, he said they’re not just footballers, they’re people? Who cares about them? No-one.

“(The media) want James Hird to stand up and take responsibility, and they want me to do it, and they want Bruce Reid to do it. How about someone who’s done something wrong stand up and put their hand up?”

Thompson explained passionately how he had taken responsibility for his time at the club as an assistant coach during the supplements saga.

Asked if he’d put his hand up, he said “Of course I have, I’ve left Essendon.

“They still haven’t got anything illegal. They say, ‘did I do enough?’ Yes I did.

“Everywhere I go I talk about how it’s our fault, we’re the ones that actually got the program going. Whose fault is it? It’s ours. The fact that we’re allowed to do it, and got away with it, whose fault is that?

“Why has it taken so long? Everyone talks about how the number one priority is the players … why has it taken so long? Why hasn’t someone been able to fix it? That’s the story.”

Thompson, a two-time Geelong premiership coach, also complained about the recent stories regarding the Cats’ use of legal supplements sourced from controversial sports scientist Stephen Dank.

“The Geelong article’s a cheap shot … it just didn’t have to be written,” Thompson said.

“The story said to me exactly what I told the investigation … if Dank’s name got brought up to work at Geelong, I didn’t know about it.

“You’ve tried to tell a story, and it’s the wrong story. The story is that we’ve done nothing wrong … exactly what we did is what you should do. Is it prohibited? Is it a supplement or a drug? It’s not a drug, is it?”