Koboni bring in former star Gibson as coach

FORMER AFL star ruckman and centre-half-forward Overa Gibson, pictured, has taken over the coaching reins of the Koboni club in Port Moresby.
Gibson took over as head coach from celebrated Douglas Lai at the start of the season following Lai’s appointment as president of the re-established Port Moresby AFL association.
Lai was an acclaimed coach for Koboni with two premiership titles and a runner-up trophy under his belt with Koboni over the past nine years from 2009 to 2017.
Koboni won the premierships in 2009 and 2015 but lost to Dockers in last year’s decider under Lai’s coaching.
Lai handed the mentoring role to Gibson at Koboni, as he takes charge of broader AFL issues at the league level and work towards improving the level and standard of competition in Port Moresby.
Gibson took over the reins from Lai with two objectives in mind and those are to maintain Koboni’s status as a top club and emulate the coaches of the past to win premierships.
Koboni has an illustrious AFL history with 17 premiership titles and 11 runner-up trophies in its trophy cabinet out of 28 grand final appearances since its establishment in 1965.
“I was part of some of those premiership victories as a player in the later years and my aim as coach now is to live a legacy for coming coaches and emulate the achievements of past coaches by winning premierships in this era,” Gibson said.
Lanky Gibson, 49, from Kerema, Gulf, was introduced to the AFL ovals as a 10-year-old boot carrier for former Koboni star full-forward Vali Leka in the late 1970s.
He was later recruited into Koboni from the volleyball courts in 1989 and he passionately became part of the club’s success story as a noted ruckman, forming a deadly combination with Navu Maha (centre), Rex Leka (rover), Vagi Lai (follower) and Lailai Ila Sr (wing).
Gibson’s dominant rucking duels and superior goal kicking gave him a nod to represent Port Moresby in the ensuing national championship in 1992 and later in the PNG Mosquitoes that won the gold medal at the Arafura Games in 1995.
Gibson maintained his spot and prowess with the Mossies that lost to Ireland in the 2002 inaugural International Cup final in Melbourne and to New Zealand in 2005.
The Mozzies were third-time lucky in 2008 with Gibson playing a key role with his boot at centre-half-forward to take sweet revenge on New Zealand in the final.
The Mozzies lost again to Ireland in 2011 but went from strength to strength to win back-to-back titles in 2014 over Ireland and last year (2017) over New Zealand.
Gibson, who clocked 200 plus games and bagged over 100 goals with Koboni (1989-1999 & 2009-2014), University Bulldogs (2000-2008) and the Mozzies (1992, 1995, 2002-2008) retired from competitive football taking up a post on Lihir Island in 2015.
But for a man who has spent a great portion of his life on the AFL field watching, playing and refereeing (on occasion), it was inevitable that Gibson would be drawn back to the sport and now he will get his chance as coach of his beloved Koboni.
Koboni have won four matches and lost two and are running equal third on the ladder with Bomana Cats on 16 points behind West 24 and Dockers 20.