"I’d still like to think that I’m on my way up, because I did start late," the wingman told The Age's Jake Niall
After more than 30 disposals in five games this year, he sounds right.
"So hopefully, if my body holds up, I can still play eight years, it just might be shifted. It might not be 18 to 26, it might be 26 to 34.
Gibson's pathway to the AFL was anything but normal.
Overlooked in the 2004 and 2005 drafts, he was eventually picked up by Hawthorn but stayed on the list for just a year.
"I don’t think I was a good enough player, to be honest," he said.
Playing at Box Hill and eventually captaining the side, Gibson gained a degree in civil engineering and worked part-time.
In the 2010 Draft, his name wasn't called.
"When it didn’t [happen], it was probably like, right – [aged] 25, the ships have sailed.
"When that didn’t eventuate, I just sort of thought ‘I’m done with it.’ But I just wanted one more good year of VFL, I wanted to play 100 games and go out on a good note."
In 2011, his dream was given life when North selected him at pick 63 in the Rookie Draft.
''For me, it doesn’t matter if it’s one year or 10 years (in the AFL). I’ve got a degree, I’ve got an education, I can always go back and do that. This was a once or twice in a lifetime in my case. It’s something I’d always wanted growing up and while it was sort of unexpected at the time, I think ‘I’ll have to take it’. At that stage, it was more important than anything else."
Gibson knows his elite endurance is his greatest asset and hopes his delayed start works in his favour.
"I guess that’s my point of different [endurance]. I guess when they look at drafting older guys, they have to have one [trait] that’s just exceptional. I’ve just been able to build that.
"I feel mentally fresh, whereas guys who are doing it for the seventh, eighth, ninth time might start to sort of lose that motivation."
