BRYCE Gibbs was feeling the love on Friday.

It was two worlds colliding when Carlton ran out at Stratarama Stadium on Friday afternoon for their captain’s run on the eve of the Gather Round clash, with the Blues calling the Glenelg Football Club home for the day.

For the history buffs, they won’t need reminding of the shared history between the Blues and the Bays. You just need to look up one end of the ground to see the Kernahan End, while current players Sam Durdin and Ashton Moir were both drafted out of Glenelg. 

That’s not even including former Carlton captain Andrew McKay as well as 2014 John Nicholls Medallist Gibbs. In simple terms, it’s an illustrious crew. 

And when Gibbs walked through the gates with the rest of the family in tow, the fans in attendance weren’t only excited to see their favourite players of today, but also yesteryear.

“It’s amazing, actually! Seeing the Tigers and the Blues colours here at the same time, it’s actually pretty special,” Gibbs said.

“Even walked in here today, a few people want some autographs and photos — I’m washed up! It seems like a long time ago, but people are still really nice.

“We know with the Carlton faithful, wherever we travel in Australia, they turn up in big numbers. I’m looking forward to watching the game tomorrow in the crowd as a supporter, there’s going to be thousands of Blues supporters there doing the same thing.”

It provided the chance for Gibbs to catch up with some former teammates of his, with the likes of Patrick Cripps and Jacob Weitering all featuring alongside Gibbs in his last few years at Carlton.

There was also, of course, Charlie Curnow, who Gibbs’ own son Charlie made a beeline for with the two striking up quite the relationship in years gone by.

For Bryce, seeing his kids embrace his former club has been a welcome sight.

“They’ve pulled out a couple of the old guernseys. Charlie is obviously at an age where he’s really loving his footy and watching the Blues every week, and Madison as well is starting to get into it.

“They’re even more happy to be here than me.

“It was little [four-week-old] Bailey’s first outing today. If we were going to get him out of the house, it was going to be at a Carlton event! He’s getting a taste of it nice and early, which is good.”

It was also a big off-season for Gibbs when it came to two modern-day Blues, with the former Glenelg superstar surprising draftee Moir the day after he was drafted to IKON Park.

Then there was also the matter of Ollie Hollands swapping from the No.14 to the No.4 guernsey, with a key reason being his support for Gibbs as a young Bluebagger.

“It was a touching moment [with Ashton]. With the Glenelg connection, I watched him closely in the under-18s and the state side last year. For him to get picked up by Carlton, I think they were pretty happy he slid that far: he’s an amazing talent, hopefully he plays a lot of games for Carlton.

“I was rapt when Ollie got the No.4 guernsey. I followed him on social and flicked him a message just to let him know to look after it for me!

“He’s great. He had a really strong first year and has cemented himself in the side. I’m looking forward to him doing well in the No.4 guernsey.”