Unbeaten after seven rounds and three games clear in second position on the ladder, Thompson said the players were on a mission.
"The big thing this year is that we want to be the best team and the most selfless team … which we probably weren't last year," he said.
"Not just on the field, everywhere. On and off the field."
The 2007 premiership coach regarded the 7-0 start as vastly different to that of last season, from which he said much had been learned.
"I just felt at times last year they were just winning without listening," he said.
"They (players) just felt their best would beat the opposition, but I think this year they've come back and they realise that the game evolves and there's more competition and they have to learn new ways to play to stay in front.
"It was a big reality check and we just had certain things we wanted to work on after last season, and one of them was to train harder and we did that.
"Another was to have more plan A's, plan B's and plan C's and look at the evolution of the game and pick the trends and stay in front of them."
Thompson highlighted last week's win over the Sydney Swans as exhibit A of his side's improved flexibility in playing style.
"Last weekend we changed the way we did stoppages throughout the course of the match based on what the opposition did to us," he said.
"That's the beauty about where the game is right now, that so many different things are happening in games of footy and there are subtle changes from week to week.
"You guys (media) mightn't notice it as much as we do, but it doesn't matter how we play or who we're playing, there's always things that we try and work on. And that's the great thing about keeping the guys motivated."
Quizzed on the side's ability to seamlessly cover the absence of star Gary Ablett last week, Thompson said it was the group as a whole, and not Ablett, that made the team great.
He said the focus on Ablett overshadowed the playing ability of others.
"In all honesty – and Gary's a great player – but Gary plays in a really good team and he's got good players around him," he said.
"It just goes to show, and I don't want to demean Gary because he's an absolute star, but I think this group all help each other to become good players and become a good team."
Thompson said St Kilda's blistering start to the year had grabbed the attention of the Cats' coaches, and he lauded the efforts of one-time assistant Leigh Tudor.
Tudor left the Cats at the end of last season to join the Saints as assistant to Ross Lyon.
"One thing I can't believe is that no one has spoken about Leigh Tudor leaving Geelong and being at St Kilda," he said.
"They seem to be playing like Geelong."
Asked how much influence Tudor could have on the St Kilda group, Thompson said: "I don't know, ask him."
Geelong meets St Kilda in round 14 at Docklands in what shapes as the season's most anticipated home and away encounter.
