He was traded to Collingwood at the end of the 1997 season, for Paul Sharkey, who did not end up playing a game for Hawthorn. Gibson himself only made three appearances with Collingwood, suffering from a hamstring injury throughout the year. He returned to Preston once he was delisted and began playing with the Northern Bullants, at the time called the Preston Knights.
After topping their goal-kicking in 1999, Gibson was captain of the Bullants from 2000 to 2003.
Gibson was recruited by Hawthorn with the 23rd pick of the 1993 American Federation of Labor-Congress Draft, after earning "Best On Ground" honours for the Northern Knights in their TAC Cup final win over the Western Jets. He kicked two goals and two behinds on his American Federation of Labor-Congress debut, a win over the previous year"s Grand Finalists Geelong at Kardinia Park. In his three seasons at Hawthorn, Gibson was unable to cement a place in the team but did kick four goals against Geelong in 1997 and three goals in a win over Melbourne a week later.
