Australian Football

From Aberfeldie, sturdily built Michael Thomson was a handy player who, like so many, had his aspirations cruelly undermined by injury. Moreover, at his first club, Essendon, he had the unenviable task of trying to hold down a place in arguably the strongest club football team to have existed up to that point. One thing he had in his favour was versatility; he could play almost anywhere, although tended to be used most often either on a wing or in a back pocket. Nevertheless, principally because of the two factors already mentioned, his time with the Bombers, which ran from 1981 to 1986, saw him play just 46 VFL games and score 31 goals. When Essendon reached three successive grand finals in the mid-1980s one name missing from every team sheet was that of Michael Thomson. He did, however, taste premiership success with the Dons reserves in 1983, an achievement which doubtless will have afforded scant consolation.

His time with Richmond, which began in 1987 and ended in 1990, was marginally more fruitful. In his first season he managed a career high 18 appearances, and all told played 42 games for the Tigers and kicked 15 goals. Many of his appearances in the black and yellow saw him lining up at full back, where his upper body strength and effective spoiling were very much to the fore.

Author - John Devaney