Gibbo fit in really well with us when he first came to the club after he was traded from North in 2010.

One thing I remember early on was that he was superstitious and he used to drink 16 Gatorades the night before a game.

As his career went on, and his professionalism increased, it meant that he grew out of that habit.

I don’t know why he drank that many, perhaps they came in boxes of 16. It was all about hydration, apparently.

He was super competitive and that was with everything he did.

When Clarko and the club were looking to get him across via a trade, it was that competitive streak that really stood out.

They also appreciated the way he worked to help out his teammates as that third man up. It was testament to his competitiveness, his will to win and his selflessness.

One of the key things with Hawthorn’s defensive group over the years is how close they are and how hard they work for each other.

He gave everything for his teammates and that was a good foundation for team success.

While he was ranked incredibly high internally, I think he was ranked just as high outside the club.

Not many forwards would have liked playing on him, either directly or against Hawthorn’s defence as a whole knowing that Gibbo was involved in it.

Most of the time while he was on the field, he was sternly focused on his specific role and also about organising his teammates. The way Luke Hodge leads out on the field influences the other defenders at the club.

He said it himself at his press conference today, so I’m not saying anything new here, but he clearly rates his dress sense pretty highly.

I think the term he used today was, ‘on point.’

One value that comes to mind is his pride and that comes out in the way he prepares and the way he performs, and flows onto other areas in his life like pride in his appearance.

He spends just as much time in front of the mirror working on his appearance. He had a mantra of, ‘look good, feel good, play good.’ And I think it worked.

Outside of football, I think he always has maintained a good balance between the professionalism of the sport and interests away from it.

He loves to travel and has spent more time in West Hollywood than Richard Reid. Part of his love for travel would be the opportunity to show other people around the world how good he looks.

Travel is a well earned rest for him after a season of hard work and dedication to the club.

He always provided us with some quality entertainment when it came to his off-field exploits and how good he was looking in his paparazzi shots.

The good thing about him is that he can be light-hearted and have a laugh at himself, too. He had a great balance of being fun but also being switched on and taking his career seriously.

I’m sure you’re all wondering whether he’ll remain in football or not, but there’s not enough designer brands in the football community for him to stay involved post retirement.

Unless, of course, he continued to venture into the media world and get channel 7 to up their wardrobe game, he’s pretty good in front of the camera.

People will remember him for some of his hairstyles and to be fair, if we all looked back at some of our own fashion and hairstyles we’d all cringe a little bit, but I think Gibbo was always a trend-setter.

His cutting edge trims are a way to express his personality in an occupation where most of the time you conform to the club brand, cookie cutter.

On our end of season trips he was a bit of a quiet achiever but loves getting around the boys. He likes to travel, so during the footy trips he was probably thinking about all of the other places he was destined to go on his itinerary.

His friendship with Buddy has been much publicised and it probably extended back to when he was at North and they’d face off and enjoy some memorable battles.

Buddy was happy to get around him when he came to Hawthorn because it meant that he didn’t have to play on him anymore.

They still played on each other at training and match simulations, and the way they worked together at training helped them out on game day.

In all seriousness, it’s a great story, isn’t it? Changing clubs and achieving that dream of winning a premiership — not only one, but three.

He’s held in high regard in the inner sanctum of Hawthorn and that can be extended out to the supporters. They all loved him.

Given his retirement is effective immediately, it would be nice if the club could have a proper send off or farewell for him.

I’m sure Hodgey would be happy to share a bit of the spotlight during his last game with him.