The stats

AFL games: 23

Disposals per game: 20.1

Marks: 6.5

Kicks: 9.9

Tackles: 2.8

Goals: 3

Review

The 2015 Peter Crimmins Medallist backed up last season’s performance with another excellent year in defence for the Hawks.

With the retirement of Brian Lake at the end of last season, Gibson was required to play as a more traditional key defender in 2016, collecting 463 disposals across 23 games as opposed to the 547 possessions he accumulated in 25 outings last year.

This didn’t stop him against the West Coast Eagles in Round 2 however, as he racked up a club-record 44 disposals and kicked his first goal for the club.

A 31-disposal game against Richmond later in the year showed that Gibson was still able to find the ball in attacking scenarios and use his kicking skills to good effect.

After re-signing with the club for the 2017 season, Gibson will continue to be a leader of the Hawthorn defensive unit and oversee the development of players like Kaiden Brand and Taylor Duryea.

A word from: Adem Yze

“Gibbo had another really consistent year, highlighted by the first half of the year where he was finding a lot of the ball and his pressure act numbers were really strong.

“His best game was undoubtedly against West Coast in Round 2 when he had 44 disposals.

“Josh’s leadership down back is always strong – his spoiling and helping out his team mates in aerial contest was important and he was able to get a lot of the footy at ground level.

“He was a pillar in defence for us, to a point where later in the year teams started to actually play a negating forward on him, such as the qualifying final against Geelong where Jimmy Bartel played on him.

“It was another really strong year from Gibbo and we look forward to him leading our backline again next year.”