Re: Carey's Article on Bryce Gibbs
Reply #2 –
A slightly different slant on our website:
“For the first time in my career last year I struggled at times with the way the team was going, the way my personal performances were going and coping with longer-term injuries I hadn’t faced in almost ten years,” Gibbs said.
“These were new challenges I had to get my head around and there were days where I felt ‘I don’t know I could be bothered going in there today’, which I never thought I’d get to.
“It is here I give credit to Dean Laidley for not only helping to take my football to a new level, but for helping me with the mental side of my game as well, which was an area I hadn’t really tapped into enough.
“And if you look what we’re doing now in terms of mindset and mental preparation it’s such a part of the game.”
Though he’s first to admit that games 1-199 have gone in a blink, he also understands that much has changed both on and off the paddock in the nine years since his senior debut.
Through the course of 2016, Gibbs has been truly deserving of all the plaudits that have come his way. By his own admission he’s playing with an “urgency around the footy” – a capacity to attack the contest rather than float – and yet he still stops short of declaring himself to be the complete player.
“I’ve still got a few things to get right,” Gibbs insisted.
“Even in recent times I’ve been a bit disappointed with the way I’ve gone about it (and) I’m still not at the level I’m happy with.”
Let's hope he's happy with his performance in his 200th.