He'd become pretty good mates with a lot of the young Kangaroos draftees via the club's alignment with Port Melbourne but had to sit back and watch some of them move on to bigger and better things. He was worried that, at the ripe old age of 21, he may have missed the AFL boat.
"I'd spent a couple of years at Port after being encouraged by Neville Stibbard to try my luck in the VFL but nothing seemed to be happening. In my second year of VFL footy I felt like I was doing as well as the guys who were getting promoted to the seniors, but I wasn't sure if I'd ever get my chance.
"When the Kangas rookied me I was rapt. I thought that this was my big chance, so I did all I could to grab it. But even then you're not sure whether they are thinking of giving you a senior spot. Thankfully, I got my chance."
Indeed, after a promising pre-season, he found himself in the senior side for the first round of 2006.
As much as his first game was a major landmark in a developing career littered with setbacks, Gibson says he knew he was miles away from being able to say he'd made it. He'd seen too many of his former Kangaroos mates come and go to know that that first senior game was just one step in a long journey to becoming a successful AFL footballer.
"I did OK in my few games in senior footy, but I got dropped pretty early on and had to force my way back after a couple of games back in the VFL.
"I suppose the game when I felt like I played my best footy for the year was when I played on Mick O'Loughlin up in Canberra.
"He's a pretty slippery customer, and he can do you in the air and on the ground, so I had to concentrate pretty hard all day. He ended up getting one late in the game, which I was pretty shattered about, but when I think about that game now, I think that was the first time I really thought I might be able to do OK in the AFL."
Knowing he could mix it with the likes of Sydney's 250-game legend was enough of a spur for Gibson to embark on his most searching pre-season over the summer just gone. He shed about six kilograms and feels he has gained “a yard or two” in pace without losing his trademark strength.
It is easy to forget that the 23-year-old has only a dozen games to his name, given he already looks like a settled member of a developing defence. He has enjoyed the challenge of playing on various types of opponents (he started last week on Hawthorn's mid-sized goal-sneak Ben Dixon before finishing the game on budding tall forward Tim Boyle) and almost apologetically uses the old footy cliché of being “happy to play anyway as long as I'm getting a game”.
In contrast to the thoughts of most Roos fans, Gibson considers himself far from an established member of the coach's best 22 from week to week. At any rate, apart from wanting to do his bit in every game, he's too busy thinking about the performances of the team to worry too much about personal ambitions.
"It's been spoken about a fair bit how we were in a position to win all three games this year, so to have lost all three is pretty tough.
"I got injured and missed the first two games but it was hard to feel sorry for myself when you see how much effort the boys put into both games against Collingwood and Port Adelaide. For them to come away with nothing was really disappointing for them and the club.
"But Dean and the coaches have kept us pretty upbeat and we think we're not that far away. We know we're going to have a pretty good rivalry with the Lions over the next couple of years, so it'd be great to get the ball rolling for this year with a win over them up at Carrara."
