Plagued by an achilles injury and absent from many training sessions in the first half of the season Thompson said the rest and his rehabilitation would help King in the second half of the season.
``Kingy's going to resume training now a lot more,'' Thompson said ahead of the Cats first training session since the bye last night.
``The rest and what we've done up to the bye is going to get him through and help him train and help him play better hopefully,''
King has been sleeping with a specially made cast on his troubled achilles in a desperate bid to stop the injury prematurely ending his season.
It was close to a full list that trained last night, with just a handful of players missing due to tertiary exams including Joel Corey, David Clarke and Henry Playfair.
Thompson said the break had been ``fantastic''for the players and that the task now was to make sure they were switched on for Friday night's match against Essendon.
In the back of Thompson's mind is last year's 50-point loss to Essendon to open the 2002 season.
After that match Thompson said Essendon caught Geelong off guard with its attack on the ball, but he said the Cats wouldn't make the same mistake twice.
``We're going to expect it this time,'' he said.
``We've already been talking about it. We had a big chat and the feel is good.
``We just have to be ready and alert for the game. The break was good because it rests the body.
``We had a lot of guys hurting with general soreness and they'll get over that but we just have to get their mind back on the track.''
