Crows flag pain over, says Gibbs

HAVING noted the warning signs that lined Adelaide’s 2017 grand final hangover, Bryce Gibbs commands rare authority in foreshadowing a monumental 2019 riposte from Don Pyke’s men.

Gibbs, 30, gained perspective that only finals deprivation can afford after more than 10 years at Carlton.

Gibbs returned to Adelaide last season eyeing a flag but refused to submit to negativity following the club’s slip to 12th.

“A lot of people in this state and Crows supporters thought we had a disastrous year. I loved my time last year even though we won 12 games that is 10 more than I would have won if I still had have been at Carlton,” reconciled Gibbs, with Carlton enduring two wooden spoons in four years.

Gibbs’s new Crows teammates carried the baggage of an upset 2017 grand final loss to Richmond through a flat and frustrating season.

He said losing a grand final could not be sugar-coated.

“It is a big deal,” Gibbs notes. “It was probably a number of things and I wasn’t around at the time but I can imagine and speaking to the guys it would take you a while to get over the fact you have just lost a grand final.

“That probably took its toll for a while, the guys are human. People might have thought we will wave it on, get on with it but it is a big deal. It took a little bit of time to get over it.”

The post-grand final blues, pre-season camp disharmony and debilitating injury list that marked Gibbs’s arrival have mercifully dissipated. Green shoots are emerging. “All the fun we had on the camp has been well documented over the last 12 months and the injuries as well. We just couldn’t get continuity in anything we did last year,” said Gibbs. “That is the way it goes sometimes, we had the review, took learnings from it and can only grow and move on.”