It will be Victory’s fifth grand final on Sunday, but first one away from home as the previous four were all in Melbourne.

Thompson has played in all of Victory’s past grand finals and drawing from his experiences, this week just feels like a “blur”.

FourFourTwo caught up with Thompson on Friday who was as lively and happy as ever but felt you wouldn’t know it was grand final week.

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“It’s a grand final… Victory, the biggest club in Melbourne and I just thought there would be more hype about it and for me it’s a bit disappointing,” Thompson said.

“I just don’t feel it, even when I’m walking down the street, I might have a few people talk to me about it… Obviously there’s a lot more media and hype about it, but it just feels normal.

“I don’t know if it’s because the game is in Sydney that we haven’t seen or heard too much about it. I was on EON Sports and someone mentioned to me that in the papers, it’s not even on the back page or the second page off the back, it’s like about three or four pages in.

“It might actually be good for Victory, it isn’t in their faces too much. I remember when we made our grand finals because they were all at home, you always see the buzz around town and it’s just a quiet buzz at the moment.

“I’m sure on Sunday, I know there’ll be a lot of travelling supporters, so then it’ll just start to ramp up.”

Thompson also felt the hype issue extended to the national team and drew examples from Socceroos’ recent clash against UAE in Sydney in March.

But the vibrant Thompson made his point that he still loved watching the football and wanted to help the game in any way he could.

“I don’t want to badmouth the A-League because I love it and everyone is working hard to do their thing,” he said.

“It has stagnated maybe a little bit but there’s so much going on at the moment off the pitch. Not just the A-League, it’s the Socceroos. I look at that game against UAE and I mean, the stadium should’ve been full.

“I remember the past Socceroo qualifications when things were at stake, the stadiums were full and people came out in numbers. It just doesn’t seem to have that oomph.

“I don’t know… I’m a footballer, I don’t know how marketing works, and whatever I can do to help promote our game I’ll do it.”

It was also Thompson’s first season watching the A-League on the sidelines after retiring last season. He holds an ambassadorial role for Victory and has undertaken roles in the media this campaign.

He said this season had a “huge gap” between the top teams and the struggling teams and it was something he didn’t notice in his playing days.

“I think in previous seasons, the football was a little bit better,” Thompson said. “Even for the lower the teams, I just thought some of them were really disappointing.

“That’s not taking anything away from Victory and Sydney because I think they’ve both been fantastic but I just think there’s such a difference in class. I don’t think I’ve seen that in the time I was playing. I think it was definitely evident this season.

“I don’t know if it’s because the quality has gotten better because I know over the years the football has been really good. It’s been a strange old season. I can’t put my finger on it.”