Star Cat Gary Ablett felt the heat from a couple of Fremantle opponents during his side’s ANZAC Day win at Subiaco, while other playmakers have come in for questionable checking from opponents intent on negating their influence on the contest.
But Thompson hopes the game's premier onballers will receive fairer treatment after several incidents on the weekend brought hard-tagging tactics to the top of the lawmakers’ agendas.
“I think the opposition players … or the umpires will be onto it a bit more,” Thompson said at Skilled Stadium on Wednesday.
“He’s (Ablett) had a lot of media exposure this week, and you know Gary and some of the good players, they just had a week where they really got treated pretty roughly and they might get a few more free kicks if they (opposition players) play the same tactics this week".
Ablett often comes in for heavy attention from opposition sides but Thompson’s comments left no one in doubt about his opinion that more needs to be done to protect the game’s best.
“We go out of our way to try to help any player who’s being tagged, and there was only so much we could do last week,” he said.
“And you really don’t want to see that, that scragginess in football come and be seen every week, especially against the really good players.
“So play it fair … and just pay the free kicks when the umpires see them.”
Ablett will again be a marked man when Geelong takes the field at home this week against a Brisbane Lions outfit confident it can topple the reigning premiers.
Thompson said last week’s match had been good for his players but saw no reason to panic despite the Cats playing in patches over the last two games.
“We’ve won four quarters out of the last eight,” he said.
“You can’t play your best footy every game of the year so it’s not a problem.”
Asked whether his team was looking for a blockbuster match to spark it into its sublime best, the Cats' coach was matter-of-fact.
“All we can do is just play Brisbane this week,” he said.
“You know it’s round seven … we’ve got a long way to go in the year and you know, we’re not playing our best footy, we don’t really see the need to play our best footy.”
Thompson said the Cats were missing the big body of Brad Ottens but were looking forward to his return in coming weeks.
Until then, Thompson is confident that Mark Blake, Trent West and Shane Mumford, who impressed the coach in his debut against Fremantle last week, would continue their development.
