Australian Football

Josh Gibson has played 165 games for North Melbourne and Hawthorn since debuting for the Kangaroos since 2006.

Gibson is known for his tough play as a back-pocket defender. He was instantly recognisable because of his afro hairstyle before he cut it. Gibson has direct links to Barbados, where his father was born. He attended Trinity Grammar School in Kew.

Josh came from Port Melbourne Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was drafted onto the Kangaroos rookie list.

A left footer, he is originally from Oakleigh Chargers and played 10 matches with the Kangaroos in 2006.

On 3 June 2007, he suffered a head injury in the bathroom at his home as he was preparing for training. After initially being ruled out of football for the remainder of the season, he was able to return to the AFL in round 21 and was able to shut out Lance Franklin who had kicked seven goals the previous round.

Immediately after the 2009 season, Gibson requested to be traded to the Hawthorn Football Club. The deal was done early on the first day of the 2009 trade week, with Gibson traded, along with North Melbourne's fifth round draft pick (#69 overall) for Hawthorn's second and third round draft picks (#25 and #41 overall).

Gibson had a season interrupted by injury in 2010; he tore his hamstring in the third round but recovered to play 12 games. He played in every game in 2011, holding the backline together after longterm injuries to key backmen Ben Stratton and Stephen Gilham.