A natural defender who showed great judgement, superior ball skills and fierce concentration, Thorp was considered the best player in the game at his position, full back.

As a child, Thorp attended the Yarra Park School (now defunct), just a few hundred metres to the north of Punt Road Oval and played his early football there.

Despite producing a number of brilliant individuals, the best of whom was Thorp, the club couldn't create a synergy between its off-field and on-field personnel, and constantly turned over its leadership positions and endured several take-overs at committee level.

Thorp was in career-best form, gaining life membership of the club and representing Victoria, for the first time, when interstate fixtures were resumed.

With Dick Lee injured and unable to take his place in the Magpies side, Thorp was able to easily blanket his replacement, Harry Curtis, and contribute significantly to the result.

At the business end of the season, Thorp dominated the semi-final thrashing of Geelong and was instrumental in two upset victories over Carlton by winning his duels with the Blues' captain Gordon Green.

The team slipped backwards in 1922–23, due to retirements and transfers, but a highlight came on 22 June 1922, when in a match at Fitzroy, Vic Thorp became the first Tiger to play 200 VFL games.

During his career he had played a major part in the Tigers' rise from mediocrity to the dizzy heights of winning successive premierships that cemented their place as one of the powerhouses of the competition.

Unfortunately for the Tigers, they couldn't find an adequate replacement for him until the early 1930s, by which time they had lost a succession of Grand Finals when the weakness at full back was often exposed.

Thorp died at Mordialloc, Victoria on 1 October 1941, aged only 50;[5][6][7][8] and, at the time of his death, he was still held Richmond's record for the number of games played.

In 1996, Thorp was elected as an inaugural member of the Australian Football Hall of Fame, the only Richmond player of the pre-World War I era to receive the honour.