In a normal universe, Wednesday's announcement that Mark Thompson was returning to Essendon as an assistant coach should have taken place amid great pomp and ceremony.

The coach, the president and the chief executive should have sat preening at a media conference, grinning like cheshire cats (OK, perhaps a bad analogy under the circumstances) as they announced the return of a premiership captain, champion defender and life member.

The cameras would have been furiously flashing as Thompson donned a red and black tracksuit top for the first time in 12 years and the resultant footage and images would have been all over the TV news and sports websites all over the country and in Melbourne at least, on the front and back pages of both newspapers, even on the same day as Tiger Woods preps for the Australian Masters.

But this is an unusual universe. Thompson's abrupt departure from Geelong and eventual arrival at Essendon was unedifying at best, disgraceful at worst. And the hastily-convened media conference conducted by a sheepish looking Essendon football manager Paul Hamilton on Wednesday afternoon would suggest some recognition by the Bombers that this has been quite a sordid affair.

Hamilton earned his keep today, and it is an indictment on president David Evans, chief executive Ian Robson and particularly coach James Hird that they weren't on hand for the announcement and to answer truthfully the murky questions about how the deal came together. If truth was on their side, they should have had no qualms about facing the media and stating once and for all that the deal to bring Thompson back to Essendon was only hatched after he left Geelong.

The deal itself is a fantastic coup for Essendon. Love or hate the club, you have to congratulate Hird for convincing the coach of two of the last four AFL premiership teams to cast his lot with the Bombers. To have a wise, old shoulder like Thompson's to lean on will make Hird's first season in charge much more straightforward.

But excuse us for not buying the story it was simply a matter of Thompson walking out into the middle of Windy Hill today to interrupt a training session and tell Hird of his intention to join the Bombers. This is the AFL in 2010 and Hird, a bloke smart enough to have the ear of every powerful tennis administrator in the world in his previous life, would have known of Thompson's intentions well before he wandered into the middle of circle work at Windy Hill.

The Cats, through their unofficial media spokesman Billy Brownless are reportedly at peace with the decision. Frank Costa and Brian Cook aren't fools; they knew this was coming for weeks. But they were treated as such by Thompson as he manoeuvred his way out of Skilled Stadium and you can't imagine the Geelong hierarchy breaking bread amiably with their Essendon counterparts any time soon.

As they marched to win after win over the last four years, the Geelong players became almost blase as they sang the club song. It became almost a perfunctory exercise. But you can that if the Cats beat the Bombers on 2 July next season, a Saturday night clash at Etihad Stadium, that they'll be belting out the words to "We are Geelong" with considerable gusto.

As well they should.