VICTORIAN coach Mark Thompson is sure of two things heading into this weekend's Hall of Fame Tribute match.

One, it's great working with Kevin Sheedy again, and two, it will be impossible to stop the competitive spirit of the players, no matter who the opposing player is.

Thompson played under Sheedy at Essendon – earning the nickname ‘Bomber’ in his 202 games there – and then did a stint as an assistant coach before moving to the Roos in a similar capacity and then taking the top job at Geelong.

With Dream Team coach Mark Williams already hurling hand grenades into the opposition camp, as he did before last year's extraordinary grand final, Thompson said it was a thrill to be working with his old mentor, who turned talking about the game into an art form.

"I'm going to leave it up to Sheeds this time – he's doing a bit of spruiking too, for the Vics, and good on him," Thompson said on Wednesday.

"He's really promoting the game really well, so Sheeds and Choco [Williams] can go head to head there, and hopefully I can concentrate on getting a game plan that's going to beat the Dream Team.

"It's different – long meetings, mad crazy statements coming out, funny match-ups, but in all honesty it's going to be fantastic.

"I love the guy, and I love his mind, the way he thinks, and he's just been a brilliant man for footy, and he's going to be very, very good to have as an assistant."

With Geelong players on both sides, Thompson said the sight of, say, Brownlow Medallist Jimmy Bartel and Joel Corey attacking a loose ball was something he was comfortable with.

"How do I feel? I'm not sure. I'm hoping Jimmy Bartel would win in this game, but they do it at training a fair bit, so hopefully they'll recognise who they're up against and Jimmy will know it's Joel and instead of going right through him he'll just pull back a little bit, and still win the ball but don't hurt his teammate.

"I don't think we'll be able to stop [the competitive spirit]. I think these guys are just competitors. They're great players."