BIO

A tall key position player, Chad Gibson came from the Tea Tree Gully Wolves to Norwood and then spent two frustrating years on the Adelaide Crows’ list before soft tissue injuries forced him out of top level football at the age of 20.

He moved to Canberra and played 98 games for the Eastlake Demons in the North East AFL over eight seasons disrupted by injuries.  He captained Eastlake to a grand final.  “Very out of character, I tore a hamstring in the first quarter and unfortunately we lost the game,” he recalled. 

He retired from football at the age of 27.  He had completed a gas-fitters’ apprenticeship but switched careers and moved to Darwin to take up his “dream job” as an aviation firefighter. “I helped out the Tiwi Bombers a few times and loved the experience,” he said.  Norwood’s Aussie Wonaeamirri was “a superstar” there.

Chad was born at Modbury on 12 January 1987 and attended Banksia Park High School.  He played with Norwood juniors from under 15s upwards.  Known as ‘Gibbo’, he played  15 games with one goal for the under 17s, four games with one goal for the under 19s and 27 games with six goals for the reserves.

He had a memorable league debut against West Adelaide.  “Full of nerves and wanting to impress Gary McIntosh, I tried to take Michael Pettigrew’s head off in the first 20 seconds of the game,” he said.  “There was some retaliation from Westies, rightfully so, but before I realised what was going on Troy Clements had Pettigrew in a headlock and was letting him know about it.  From there I felt pretty safe with the blokes around me.”

Chad left Norwood with great memories of the club and its people, admiring Nick Duigan and Paul Puopolo as mature players who went on to play AFL.

Chad’s artist wife Sarrita King designed North Melbourne’s popular Indigenous Round guernsey in 2014 and did it with her sister Tarisse for the next four years.  Chad and Sarrita have two boys, Steele and Grange.

C. Gibson with P. Robins, D. Cox, S. Fendt, G. Adams December 2023