Not satisfied with owning his own home, Thomas is keen to enter the world of property development. On his day off he joins 10 of his Power teammates at Alberton for a TAFE course in property investment and development. “Alipate Carlile, Troy Chaplin and I are looking at doing something together, so we thought the course would be a good idea. We don’t really know which way we’ll go yet. It might be a property that we all develop together as a learning tool, or we might buy a house and aim to knock it down in a few years so we can develop the site. We’ve talked about pubs, but I think they get over done. I think nearly every footballer or cricketer owns a pub these days, so I reckon it would be fun to do something else.”
The former Sandringham junior arrived at Port Adelaide as an 18-year-old via the 2006 NAB AFL Pre-season Draft. He spent his first year in Adelaide with a host family, but has since become fully self-sufficient in and around the home. He’s hosted a number of teammates over the years and recently opened his doors to Matthew Lobbe and Daniel Stewart. “Snowy (Stewart) is pretty good to live with because he’s been out on his own for a few years, but Lobbes has just come out of a two-year stint with a host family. I remember driving home one day and I rang Lobbes and asked him to boil some water and throw some pasta in, so I could put all the ingredients together to make a pasta bake when I got home. I took a good 20 minutes to get home and when I got there he told me the water still hadn’t boiled. I went and had a look at the stove and he’d turned the gas on but hadn’t lit it, so he’d been gassing the house but not boiling the water. I had to wait five minutes and air the house out before I could light the stove. We had a laugh about it and he’s been really good ever since.”
Thomas also provided good support for Lobbe and Stewart when the pair made their AFL debuts in consecutive weeks in rounds four and five. “I’ve had two debuts in the Thomas household, so it’s a successful breeding ground. I just told them I’d look after them on the field when they were out there. They’re both big boys now and they knew what to expect. They’ve played a lot of footy in the SANFL, so I just tried to help them settle their nerves.”
Over the pre-season a ripped Thomas was featured in a side-by-side photo with forward Daniel Motlop. The aim of the photo was to emphasise the weight a ‘portly’ Motlop had put on after having surgery in the offseason, but Thomas still hasn’t lived down the ‘He-man’ tag. “I reckon I’ve copped as much stick if not more than Motts over that picture. It even found it’s way to Melbourne so all my mates back home have been getting stuck into me too. I think I might have to keep the shirt on next pre-season.”
