The captain-coach of the St. George Dragons club in Sydney in their inaugural season, he is considered one of Australia's finest footballers of the 20th century.

[3] Tall and powerful for his era, Gilbert stood at 6 ft (182 cm), weighed 13 st 7 lb (86 kg), and reputedly played his best football in the biggest games.

Gilbert learnt his rugby in the South Sydney district and went into the NSW and Australian teams in 1910 after Dally Messenger defected to league.

[3] Later in the same year he'd made his rugby union representative debut, he crossed over to the professional code, joining the South Sydney Club in 1910 as their first grade player number 42.

With the Ashes already won, Australia lost to Great Britain in the 3rd Test of the series with Gilbert captaining his country for his second and final time.

He was a state and national selector from 1925 to 1937; his working career was with the New South Wales Railways; in his later years he was doorman at the Sydney Cricket Ground.