1997-2003, 141 games, 81 goals. (b: 21 Oct 1973 180cms 81 kgs). He was a surprise choice when St Kilda plucked him from amateur football ranks in the November 1997 draft. The ex-Old Melburnians player had twice quit football in the previous three years and had spent time on the supplementary lists at St Kilda and Footscray. He had originally tried out with St Kilda over the 1993-94 summer and recalled later that he didn't impress anyone and also had a knee operation after Russell Morris tackled him in a drill and he popped a cartilage. In his first year he shone against big names like Matera, Hocking and Williams with his fierce tackling and smothering. His fairytale continued in 1998 when he won his first Big V guernsey in state of origin football. He was best and fairest for the Saints in 2000 and the following year he became acting captain when Robert Harvey was sidelined with a long term knee injury. He was an inspiration both in terms of his desperate play and in his story of making good against the odds. Desperation became a trademark of his play. Thompson said that because he wasn't blessed with the skills of others he couldn't get the ball and have three dodges and kick a goal from the boundary line, so the best thing to do was to get the ball out to someone who could. He got as much enjoyment out of smothering and laying a tackle and getting the ball off to someone else to kick as actually kicking a goal himself. The hard-working Thompson never shied away from a heavy workload in 2002 and ran fourth in the best and fairest. Once again he proved to be a durable performer.