The Bombers players - including some awe-struck youngsters - are now also fully aware what the triple-premiership star brings to the table.
Chapman made his senior debut at Geelong in 2000, Thompson's first year at the helm with the Cats.
Their hugely successful partnership yielded 199 games and 264 goals for Chapman, along with a Norm Smith Medal, a best-and-fairest award, two All Australian selections and two flags.
The rugged forward claimed a third premiership at Geelong in 2011, under Thompson's replacement Chris Scott.
But when the Cats decided to move the ultra-competitive Chapman on at the end of last season, it was no surprise the Bombers came calling under Thompson, standing in for a year as coach in place of the suspended James Hird.
"Chappy hasn't lost anything in his ability to play," Thompson said.
"So far at training he has done nearly every session.
"He is a high-standard, quality trainer.
"But the key thing for him, as it is for anyone who gets older, is if his body is going to be able to do it over the duration of a season.
"I think if we manage him, it will."
Hamstring injuries limited Chapman to just eight games in 2013, although significantly that included a match-winning four-goal effort in the semi-final win over Port Adelaide that turned out to be his swan-song for the Cats.
Thompson compared Chapman, now a 32-year-old veteran of 251 games, with other old stagers such as evergreen Essendon teammate Dustin Fletcher, who turns 39 in May, and former Carlton great Craig Bradley, who played at the top level until he was 38.
"Those guys are mentally up for the game," Thompson said.
"They like coming to training.
"They don't necessarily like the weights or they don't necessarily like the recovery sessions or the stretching, but they do them because their appetite to play is really high.
"With Chappy, when we met with him you could just tell that he wanted to play."
Rookie-listed forward Cory Dell'Olio is just one of many young Bombers to have already benefited from Chapman's example on the track.
"As soon as I saw him train with this group you could see they were in awe of him, that they really respected his ability to play the game," Thompson said.
"The ease with which he gets the ball at training and delivers it to his teammates … it has just lifted the standard.
"Young Cory Dell'Olio said that Chappy got him four kicks (in match practice) just by positioning himself on the ground - telling him where to go and stand.
"That's experience that you can only get from playing. And of course talent."
Chapman has a two-year contract at Essendon.
