Rocky Bushiri Hibs jokes now confined to team-mates only as defender goes from strength to strength

Hibs defender Rocky Bushiri has played well this season.

“When you have [Martin] Boyle in the team there are loads of jokes. I just laugh,” said Rocky Bushiri.

That was little to even smile about six months ago. A dubious loan spell was coming to an end and the Belgian defender was expected to head back to parent club Norwich. When news filtered through that a clause in the contract had been activated and he would instead become a permanent Hibs player, there was dismay (from some inside the club, as well as those in the stands) and online insults.

The Easter Road hierarchy offered him a defence that was more effective than some of the displays he had turned in up to that point but people backed off. Since then he has flourished to the point he is turning in man of the match performances and being lauded as a multi-million pound asset by his gaffer and the smile is no long there to mask the pain, it is genuine. “We’re in sport where we get exposed and need to accept things but it’s up to you how you take it. I knew I signed for three years, you want to show a reaction back and say, ‘ok guys, let me give you something back so we can all go in the same direction’.”

It has taken a while but Bushiri is finally feeling at home. At the club, in the city and in the system the players are being asked to play by current manager Lee Johnson, who inherited the 23-year-old from his predecessor Shaun Maloney. “Every manager has a different philosophy and it depends on the system you play. I’ve enjoyed this system more, playing in a three or a four centrally whereas before I played on the right hand side. It all depends on the system. I also came here after long injuries so I was restarting things. I had a chance in the summer to work on those things and that has helped me to settle well this season.”

The valuation placed on him by Johnson has helped boost him further. “Those were nice words from the manager. We have been working hard, in Portugal [pre-season] and here. He has been straight with me since day one about what I need to do better and how he wants to use me in the team. I think you can see his philosophy, how he can use me to help other players be more free on the pitch. It’s a boost. There are loads of things he tells me, I can’t go into detail. Some things like show my strength before doing other stuff.”

That strength and the resilience shown so far in his Hibs career could be crucial against Hearts at Tynecastle, especially when up against one of the league’s most prolific strikers, Lawrence Shankland. “I’ve seen that he has scored lots of goals but I already knew about him because he was in Belgium at Beerschot. We just need to be careful. It’s all going to be about mentality but it will be a physical game, a good test.”