After winning three consecutive premierships and two Peter Crimmins medals, Gibson called time on his illustrious career. Since retiring, Gibson has excelled in many entrepreneur pursuits.
In 2017, Josh Gibson left his beloved game of AFL, leaving behind a defensive legacy like few have. Originally from the TAC Cup’s Dandenong Stingrays, Gibson enjoyed an excellent 2004 season with North Melbourne’s then VFL affiliate, Port Melbourne. Selected at pick 7 in the 2004 NAB AFL Rookie Draft, Gibson’s continued good form saw him make the transition from rookie to senior list at Arden Street by the end of 2005. After having a standout year for North Melbourne in 2009, where he was runner-up Best & Fairest, Gibson joined the Hawthorn Football Club via trade. By 2011, Gibson was excelling at Hawthorn where he finished the season with another runner-up place in the club’s Best & Fairest medal. In 2012, Gibson was a dominant force once again, playing 22 games throughout the season. Gibson accumulated the ball much more than what he did in 2011 and passed the 30 disposals on two occasions and led the competition for spoils. A career best year in 2013 saw Gibson win the club’s Best & Fairest and play a major role in the Hawks Grand Final win over Fremantle.
In 2014 Gibson overcame a mid season injury to win a second straight Premiership medal with 32 possessions against the Sydney Swans. He added a third Premiership Medal, a second Peter Crimmins Medal and a first All Australian berth in 2015 as he relished a role that gave him more scope to attack from defence. His 2016 season saw Gibson reach the 200 AFL game milestone and record a career high 44 disposals against West Coast in the Round 2 Grand Final replay at the MCG. Gibson’s 2017 campaign was cut-short due to a groin injury, managing only the 12 games, averaging 15.5 disposals in each. Gibson decided to announce his retirement in wake of the injury, knowing that he would not be back again for the year. Gibson played 225 games of AFL after initially being overlooked and then eventually taken on by North Melbourne as a Rookie. An incredible career, one decorated by three AFL premierships, an All Australian as well as two club Best & Fairest medals.
Since leaving the AFL, Gibson has excelled in his media and entrepreneurship pursuits. He began his media career in the later years of his playing career where he appeared as a guest on shows including The Footy Show, Before the Game and AFL Game Day. Furthermore, he was also a regular contributor to Melbourne’s GoldFM as well as appearing on Channel 10’s I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here! Josh has since consolidated on his media profile – In 2018 he was the co-host of Channel 10’s Sunday night show, Sport’s Tonight. It became clear his ability to engage and accurately report across several sport codes with such precision and clarity makes him an incredibly favourable television personality. In most recent time Josh will form part of the cast for Nine Networks Celebrity Apprentice which will air in early 2021.
Outside the world of TV and media, Josh was announced the 2018 Premiership Cup Ambassador and has been an on-going ambassador for Chemist Warehouse – Bondi Proteins for the last 3 years. This comes as a result of his successful work as the 2016 Melbourne Festival of Racing ambassador and Official Myer 2018 ambassador with Elyse Knowles . Josh’s presence and influence is continuously growing throughout the media and ambassador landscapes. Most recently, Josh has established his entrepreneurship pursuits as owner, CEO and director of REVL gym – previously known as Befit. REVL runs three extremely successful and unique training programs across Australia. Since retiring, the Hawthorn premiership player has also returned to one of his first loves, horses. In his spare time, Josh turns his hand to competitive camp drafting at his home near Ballarat.
