Speaking to the media ahead of his squad's return to training on Thursday, Thompson must have known what the first question was going to be.
And while those questions of whether he was over that match and what went wrong against the Hawks were posed for a couple of minutes, Thompson stressed he was doing fine and had moved on.
"I don't think you ever get over it, but we're dealing with it," Thompson said on an oval outside Skilled Stadium.
"It was a disappointing day but we're fine and we're looking forward to 2009."
After being the dominant team throughout 2008 and a warm favourite heading into this year's season decider, the Cats were overwhelmed by the Hawks.
Thompson said he knew where his team had gone wrong, but also said his men had done a lot right, too.
"It just wasn't our day," he said.
"It's just a game of footy; you think you have everything under control, you try your best.
"We were beaten by a better team so you've just got to move forward and just think 'What can we do to make our club a better club and better team and get us in a position to win another premership?'
"That's all we can do."
But had he made himself sit through what must rank as his worst day in the coaching box?
"I've watched it, yeah, but to be honest I'm just about over it and just not really wanting to go too far backwards and look too far into what happened last year," Thompson said.
"It's about this year and you know, we had a crack and we got to the grand final, which is exactly what every club aims to do.
"We didn't win it – so be it. I am over it and I'm looking forward to 2009."
Thompson's side lost just two matches this year, but one of those was the biggest game of the season. So which team should be rated the "best" of 2008?
"I'm not sure, you'd probably give it to Hawthorn – they won the premiership," he said.
