The game was on edge even before the first bounce after Geelong doctor Geoff Allen suffered a heart attack during the warm-up, which Thompson said severely affected his players' preparation.
“It’s not great to see one of your doctors nearly die on the ground before the game,” he said.
“They’ve seen them trying to revive him but we knew by the time we got on the ground that he was still alive.
“It’s probably more important than a game of footy really."
Geelong dominated possession early and kicked the first three goals but after half time, Adelaide controlled the contested ball and inside 50s.
Thompson said a culmination of the Crows' switched-on mentality and his players' lack of respect that set up their first loss at AAMI Stadium for three years.
However, the Geelong coach said the loss was not necessarily a bad thing.
“Sometimes we get spoilt because we’ve won a lot of games over a long period and in actual fact, winning so many games is so rare and to lose games is quite normal,” he said.
Geelong made several uncharacteristic skill errors coming out of defence, but Thompson said the Cats would focus on their work at the clearances this week after Adelaide controlled that area of the game.
He said the club wouldn't dwell on Friday night's loss, instead focusing on a run to the finals that includes challenging games against Collingwood and the Western Bulldogs.
“We’ve lost tonight, we accept it, we got outplayed and we'll just move on next week,” Thompson said.
“To be honest, we’re just trying to get home to the hotel, have a feed and a decent sleep get on the plane and get back to Melbourne and pretty much forget about this weekend.”
