Bryce Gibbs (born 15 March 1989) is a retired professional

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

er who played for the

Carlton Football Club The Carlton Football Club, nicknamed the Blues, is a professional Australian rules football club based at Princes Park (stadium), Princes Park in Carlton North, Victoria, Carlton North, an inner suburb of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia. The c ...

and the

Adelaide Football Club The Adelaide Football Club, nicknamed the Crows, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Adelaide, South Australia that was founded in 1990. The Crows have fielded a men's team in the Australian Football League (AFL) since 199 ...

in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...

(AFL).

Pre-AFL

Gibbs was an exceptional youth talent, which led to much speculation about his ultimate AFL drafting. In 2004 he won Glenelg's Under-17s

best and fairest In Australian sport, the best and fairest award recognises the player(s) adjudged to have had the best performance in a game or over a season for a given sporting club or competition. The awards are sometimes dependent on not receiving a suspensi ...

award despite spending part of the season playing

SANFL The South Australian National Football League, or SANFL ( or ''S-A-N-F-L''), is an Australian rules football league based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the state's sports governing body, governing body for the sport. ...

reserve grade. That year he also captained the South Australian under-16s team at the national championships. From Round 7 of the 2005 season, at age 16, he debuted in Glenelg's League team and was a regular until the end of the 2006 season. Playing as a teenager against grown men in the SANFL, Gibbs excelled, coming third in the club's 2006 best and fairest and dominating recent former AFL players during the season. He featured prominently in the 2006 under-18 national championships, where he was captain of

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

. He was selected as the Under-18 All-Australian ruck-rover and was judged South Australia's Most Valuable Player. He also co-captained the Australian youth side against an Irish youth side in an international tournament in Australia in 2006.

Recruitment

Speculation that Gibbs would be the No. 1 draft pick began early in the 2006 season. Although his father Ross Gibbs had a 253-game career with Glenelg, Bryce was ineligible to be taken by the

Adelaide Crows The Adelaide Football Club, nicknamed the Crows, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Adelaide, South Australia that was founded in 1990. The Crows have fielded a men's team in the Australian Football League (AFL) since 199 ...

under the

father–son rule The father–son rule is a rule that allows clubs preferential recruiting access to the sons of players who have made a major past contribution to the club in Australian rules football, most notably in the Australian Football League. The rule ...

, much to the Crows' chagrin, because Ross had not yet played 200 of those games before the Crows entered the

in 1991. When

Essendon Essendon may refer to: Australia *Essendon, Victoria **Essendon railway station **Essendon Airport *Essendon Football Club, in the Australian Football League *Electoral district of Essendon *Electoral district of Essendon and Flemington United Kin ...

and Carlton met in Round 16 of 2006, the sides were firmly entrenched at the bottom of the ladder, with Carlton having lost its last seven games and Essendon a then-club-record fourteen. Speculation that the result would decide the wooden spoon (and hence the first draft pick) led to the game jokingly being dubbed the ''"Bryce Gibbs Cup"'' by some in the media.Passionate, skilful, hungry and smart Gibbs a kid with the lot
Retrieved from The Herald Sun 12 November 2006 The match ended in a draw. Carlton ultimately finished last, and subsequently selected Gibbs with the first overall pick in the 2006 AFL draft (held on 25 November 2006). He was given the No. 4 guernsey, formerly worn by club champion and administrator (and later, president),

Stephen Kernahan Stephen Scott Kernahan (born 1 September 1963) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Carlton Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL) and for the Glenelg Football Club in the South Australian National Football ...

, who was also a close friend and former Glenelg teammate of Gibbs' father.

AFL career

Gibbs was named in Carlton's leadership group for Carlton's 2007 season without having played a single AFL match, which is the first time in history this has happened. He made his debut in round one against

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

and kicked a goal with his first kick while becoming the 1100th player to play for Carlton. Seventeen disposals at 100 percent efficiency and a great shutdown role on

Brownlow Medal The Charles Brownlow Trophy, better known as the Brownlow Medal (and informally as Charlie), is awarded to the best and fairest player in the Australian Football League (AFL) during the home-and-away season, as determined by votes cast by the f ...

list

Jason Akermanis Jason Dean Akermanis (born 24 February 1977) is a former professional Australian rules football player who played in the Australian Football League (AFL). He is a Brownlow Medallist and triple premiership player who played for the Brisbane Bears ...

in round 10 earned Gibbs his nomination for the NAB Rising Star award. Gibbs played every game of the 2007 season and kicked five goals. Most of his development and experience was in the backline, where he has played as a half-back flanker. Bryce Gibbs 2017

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

, new coach Brett Ratten reduced the size of the leadership group, and Gibbs was excluded from the new group. Gibbs played games as both an attacking midfielder and as a tagger throughout the season, playing very well in both roles. As a tagger, he convincingly beat several top-class opponents, including

Chad Cornes Chad Studley Cornes (born 12 November 1979) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Port Adelaide Football Club and Greater Western Sydney Giants in the Australian Football League (AFL). He was a member of the P ...

(nine disposals),

Heath Shaw Heath Shaw (born 27 November 1985) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Collingwood Football Club and the Greater Western Sydney Giants in the Australian Football League (AFL). Heath grew up in Diamond Creek and played ju ...

(six disposals) and

Adam Goodes Adam Roy Goodes (born 8 January 1980) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Sydney Swans in the Australian Football League (AFL). Goodes holds an elite place in VFL/AFL history as a dual Brownlow Medallist, d ...

, whom he held to seven disposals while collecting 26 of his own. In the midfield, he showed strong team ethic, very accurate disposal by foot, strong tackling, and very good football smarts and awareness. He collected seven Brownlow votes during the season and finished 5th in the club best and fairest. In

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

, Gibbs began playing mainly as an attacking midfielder, and much less as a tagger. He finished the season with a total of 615 disposals (averaging 26.7) which was ranked ninth in the league, and polled 15 votes in the Brownlow Medal to finish equal ninth, and finished third in the club best and fairest. In

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

, Gibbs began to divide his time between the midfield and the half-back line, playing as a rebounding defender. In round 10, his 45 disposals tied Greg Williams' efforts as the most by a Carlton player in a single game (since records were kept in 1984). Gibbs finished fourth in the club best and fairest for 2010. In

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

, Gibbs celebrated his 100 games for Carlton against the Brisbane Lions. In June

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

, Gibbs re-signed with Carlton for a further two years. In June

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

, Gibbs signed a new five-year deal with Carlton, keeping him at the club until the end of the 2019 season. He went on to win his first John Nicholls Medal and was also named in the All Australian 40-man squad. Despite being contracted to Carlton, Gibbs announced at the conclusion of the 2016 season that he wanted to return to

for family reasons and requested a trade. After failing to facilitate a trade with the

, he stayed with Carlton. It was also in 2016 that he kicked 72.3 metres (237 ft) in the Fox Footy Longest Kick to win the competition and $10,000 as prize money. The distance remains the record as of the end of 2023. Carlton and Adelaide re-entered trade talks during the 2017 AFL trade season and finalised a trade to send Gibbs to Adelaide. Gibbs announced his retirement on 10 September 2020 and played his final AFL game in a match between Adelaide and Carlton on 13 September 2020.

Statistics

: : ''Statistics are correct to end of the 2019 season'' , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 4 , , 22 , , 5 , , 6 , , 166 , , 120 , , 286 , , 94 , , 62 , , 0.2 , , 0.3 , , 7.6 , , 5.5 , , 13.0 , , 4.3 , , 2.8 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

, style="text-align:center;", , 4 , , 21 , , 14 , , 3 , , 242 , , 193 , , 435 , , 118 , , 73 , , 0.7 , , 0.1 , , 11.5 , , 9.2 , , 20.7 , , 5.6 , , 3.5 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

, style="text-align:center;", , 4 , , 23 , , 15 , , 8 , , 321 , , 294 , , 615 , , 141 , , 92 , , 0.7 , , 0.4 , , 14.0 , , 12.8 , , 26.7 , , 6.1 , , 4.0 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

, style="text-align:center;", , 4 , , 23 , , 6 , , 11 , , 342 , , 218 , , 560 , , 127 , , 82 , , 0.3 , , 0.5 , , 14.9 , , 9.5 , , 24.6 , , 5.5 , , 3.6 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

, style="text-align:center;", , 4 , , 23 , , 21 , , 18 , , 381 , , 167 , , 548 , , 174 , , 82 , , 0.9 , , 0.8 , , 16.6 , , 7.3 , , 23.8 , , 7.6 , , 3.6 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

, style="text-align:center;", , 4 , , 22 , , 8 , , 9 , , 317 , , 164 , , 481 , , 114 , , 91 , , 0.4 , , 0.4 , , 14.4 , , 7.5 , , 21.9 , , 5.2 , , 4.1 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 4 , , 21 , , 11 , , 6 , , 302 , , 167 , , 469 , , 92 , , 75 , , 0.5 , , 0.3 , , 14.4 , , 8.0 , , 22.3 , , 4.4 , , 3.6 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

, style="text-align:center;", , 4 , , 22 , , 18 , , 15 , , 308 , , 237 , , 545 , , 89 , , 108 , , 0.8 , , 0.7 , , 14.0 , , 10.8 , , 24.8 , , 4.1 , , 4.9 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 4 , , 10 , , 4 , , 5 , , 112 , , 97 , , 209 , , 21 , , 54 , , 0.0 , , 0.5 , , 11.2 , , 9.7 , , 20.9 , , 2.1 , , 5.4 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 4 , , 22 , , 18 , , 12 , , 320 , , 270 , , 590 , , 77 , , 114 , , 0.8 , , 0.6 , , 14.6 , , 12.3 , , 26.8 , , 3.5 , , 5.2 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 4 , , 22 , , 17 , , 13 , , 362 , , 228 , , 590 , , 114 , , 129 , , 0.8 , , 0.6 , , 16.5 , , 10.4 , , 26.8 , , 5.2 , , 5.9 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 6 , , 22 , , 13 , , 15 , , 354 , , 215 , , 569 , , 82 , , 118 , , 0.6 , , 0.7 , , 16.1 , , 9.8 , , 25.9 , , 3.7 , , 5.4 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 6 , , 12 , , 2 , , 1 , , 154 , , 84 , , 238, , 48 , , 47 , , 0.2 , , 0.1 , , 16.1 , , 12.8 , , 19.8, , 4 , , 3.9 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 265 ! 246 ! 122 ! 3681 ! 2454 ! 6135 ! 1291 ! 1127 ! 0.6 ! 0.5 ! 13.9 ! 9.3 ! 23.2 ! 4.9 ! 4.3

Personal life

Gibbs is the son of former

and WAFL player Ross Gibbs. Gibbs graduated from Brighton Secondary School in 2006 where he sat his

South Australian Certificate of Education The South Australian Certificate of Education (SACE) is awarded to students who have successfully completed their senior secondary schooling in the state of South Australia. The SACE Board of South Australia (formerly known as the Senior Seconda ...

(SACE). Gibbs founded his own clothing line, Tushay Clothing, along with former Carlton and Collingwood player Jordan Russell. Gibbs and his partner, Lauren Tscharke, have two sons Charlie and Bailey and a daughter Madison.

Outside football

Gibbs, along with team-mate Nick Stevens, appeared in the popular Australian drama ''

Neighbours ''Neighbours'' is an Australian television soap opera that has aired since 18 March 1985. It was created by television executive Reg Watson. The Seven Network commissioned the show following the success of Watson's earlier soap '' Sons and ...

'' in October 2008. He has represented South Australia in volleyball.

References

External links

* *
Bryce Gibbs profile in Blueseum
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gibbs, Bryce 1989 births Living people Adelaide Football Club players Carlton Football Club players Glenelg Football Club players South Adelaide Football Club players Australian rules footballers from South Australia John Nicholls Medal winners Magarey Medal winners Australia international rules football team players 21st-century Australian sportsmen