Now some 13 years later the pair face critical games in their immediate coaching futures, on the same day next Saturday when Essendon host Port Adelaide at Telstra Dome while the Cats return to Skilled Stadium to face Richmond.
Put simply, nothing less than a win will suffice for Sheedy and Thompson as they try to settle the growing sense of frustration amongst the fans of their clubs.
Sheedy will become only the second coach in league history next week to chalk up 600 games in charge (behind the immortal Jock McHale who coached Collingwood in 714 matches) but right now he is on his longest losing streak since becoming Essendon coach in 1981, with the Bombers having lost their last seven games.
That has left Essendon on the bottom of the ladder with just one win and staring at their first wooden spoon since 1933.
And if they can't beat a rapidly deteriorating Port Adelaide side in Melbourne next week, with the Power one of just three teams on two wins for the season, it could place Sheedy's position under probably the greatest amount of scrutiny he has ever had to endure during his long and successful reign.
As Sheedy insists, he is all about building the next great Essendon team, at least Bombers' fans have the knowledge of knowing their coach has been down this road before and been successful such as when he turned a side that finished 14th in 1997 (Sheedy's lowest ever finishing position as a coach) into a side that won the premiership just three years later in losing only one game for the season.
However, Geelong fans can take no such comfort at a time when Thompson's position as coach also begins to come under scrutiny with the Cats seemingly going backwards.
When the Cats won the NAB Cup this year to give the club its first senior trophy since 1963, Geelong fans were entitled to start believing that this season might finally be the one in which the club delivered the ultimate prize.
After all the Cats had come so close in the past two years - losing to Brisbane by nine points in the 2004 preliminary final and going down on the last kick to eventual premiers Sydney in last year's semi-finals.
And when they came out and won their first two games by a combined total of 146 points, the Cats assumed premiership favouritism.
Since then they have lost five of their past six matches with the latest being a 102 point loss to Collingwood - the biggest defeat the club has suffered since Thompson became coach in 2000.
It came on the same day as Thompson became the Cats' second longest serving coach in history on 146 games - behind only Reg Hickey - so its little wonder there is growing frustration amongst Cats' fans about the club's lack of progress this season given the amount of time Thompson has been at the helm.
Thompson is actually in 12th position on the list of games coached without winning a premiership with three of his current contemporaries - Melbourne's Neale Daniher (194 games), Bulldogs' Rodney Eade (182) and Richmond's Terry Wallace (178) - ahead of him on that list but Eade and Wallace are only in their second seasons at what is their second crack at coaching while Daniher's team - unlike Thompson's - is progressing well.
Most games coached
1. Jock McHale: 714 games (Collingwood 1912-49) - eight premierships.
2. Kevin Sheedy 599 games (Essendon 1981- 2006) - four premierships
3. Allan Jeans 575 games, (St Kilda, Hawthorn, Richmond 1961-76, 81-87, 89-90, 92) - four premierships
4. Mick Malthouse 524 games, (Footscray, West Coast, Collingwood) - 1984-2005 - two premierships
5. Tom Hafey 522 games, (Richmond, Collingwood, Geelong, Sydney) - 1966-88 - four premierships
6. Ron Barassi 514 games (Melbourne, Carlton, North Melbourne, Melbourne, Sydney 1964, 1965-71, 73-80, 81-85, 1993-95) - four premierships
7. Norm Smith 449 games (Fitzroy, Melbourne, South Melbourne 1949-51, 52-67, 69-72) - six premierships
8. Dick Reynolds 415 games (Essendon 1939-60) - four premierships
9. Percy Bentley 414 games (Richmond, Carlton 1934-55) - three premierships
10. John Kennedy 411 games (Hawthorn, North Melbourne 1960-63, 67-76, 85-89) - three premierships
11. Leigh Matthews 403 games (Collingwood, Brisbane 1986-95, 1999-2006) - four premierships
Most games coached without winning a premiership
1. John Northey 315 games (Sydney, Melbourne, Richmond, Brisbane 1985-98)
2. Bob Rose 281 games (Collingwood, Footscray, Collingwood 1964-71, 72-75, 85-86)
3. Bill Stephen 258 games (Fitzroy, Fitzroy, Essendon, Fitzroy 1955-57, 65-70, 76-77, 79-80)
4. Ted Whitten Snr 228 games (Footscray 1957-66, 69-71)
5. Gary Ayres 223 games (Geelong, Adelaide 1995-2004)
6. Wally Carter 214 games (North Melbourne 1940, 48-53, 58-62)
7. Neale Daniher 184 games (Melbourne 1998-2006)
8. Rodney Eade 182 games (Sydney, Bulldogs 1996-2002, 2005-06)
9. Terry Wallace 178 games (Bulldogs, Richmond 1996-2002, 2005-06)
10. Jack Hale 175 games (South Melbourne, Hawthorn 1948-49, 52-59)
11. Alex Hall 155 games (St Kilda, Melbourne, Richmond, Melbourne, Hawthorn 1906, 07-09, 10, 12-14, 25)
12. Mark Thompson 146 games (Geelong 2000-06)
