While Thompson is contracted until the end of the 2009 season and could go on beyond that, the premiership coach warned of the “burnout factor” associated with the job of leading an AFL club and reiterated his previous sentiment that he doesn’t believe he is a career coach.
“I don’t think there’ll be too many more Kevin Sheedys,” Thompson said on Channel Nine’s Footy Classified on Monday night.
“I think it’s a pretty hard job … I’m contracted for this year and next year and I’m not sure what will happen after that.
“I’m not sure whether I’ll have a couple of years off and go on a decent holiday because it’s a pretty hectic job.”
Asked whether the Cats had a succession plan in place for the day he does leave Geelong, Thompson indicated his preference for a current assistant coach to be given the opportunity.
“We’ve got a terrific record for developing young people, and the people who have developed them – Ron Watt and Brendan McCartney and Ken Hinkley and Brenton Sanderson … you’d like to think that they’d give it [the senior coaching job] to one of those guys.
“Definitely, because they know our system, they know how we’ve done it and I think it’s proven to be a pretty good method of developing the club.”
Thompson said few people understood the demands on AFL coaches and if he were to walk away from his role he wouldn’t lose too much sleep.
“It is just a job and a lot of people just see us coaches as people who are desperate to keep their jobs and I’m certainly not that person,” he said.
“I just think that it is a really hard job and I feel sorry for all the coaches at times because we get it from our supporters, we get it from the media, we get it from directors, we get it from everywhere … It’s a really lonely job and it’s a tough job and I think it takes its toll on a lot of people.
“At the moment I really enjoy doing it. Whether I’m going to do it for a long time or not, who knows?”
