New Kyabram signing Leyton Chisholm playing for Central District against Port Adelaide in the SANFL.
Fly to Melbourne, drive to Kyneton, play for Kyabram — a regular journey new Bombers signing Leyton Chisholm will make next season.
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Why? Because he’s based in Adelaide, where he’s played for the past four years.
Chisholm’s been a key cog in Central District’s midfield in the SANFL.
Away from the field, he’s a facilities manager in the education sector, looking after about 40 schools.
So Chisholm’s pretty settled in the City of Churches — if you’ve ever been to his suburb Henley, you’d also know he’s got a beautiful beach nearby.
“There’s a bit of flexibility and there'll be a few times, especially over school holidays, where I get across more often, get to a few Thursday night trainings,” he said.
The rest of the Chisholm family is in home town Kyneton and his partner’s in Richmond (Melbourne, not Adelaide).
So in between putting his best foot forward at Wilf Cox, the new midfielder can also enjoy more regular reunions with his loved ones.
“It's exciting being able to see her a bit more and get back and see the family as well,” Chisholm said.
“Especially for a Rochy or Echuca game, I can go back to Kyneton, stay there on a Friday night and then travel up.”
Such a commute is probably a lot more common than you’d think.
So much so, the country footy world has what are known as “satellite groups”.
It’s a network for players at regional clubs — who aren’t based locally — to work with each other around one hub.
Like a satellite.
“There are a lot of boys travelling to Mildura from Adelaide, setting up those groups; some of them ex-SANFL players all needing somewhere to train as well,” Chisholm said.
“So we'll have a squad, I'll communicate with Darryl about what he wants, lean on him.
“We’re also in the day and age where you can do Teams calls to go over things online.”
Chisholm in SANFL action at Adelaide Oval.
Constant communication with the new Ky coach will be easy.
Because the duo has already been doing it for some time — which was the key to securing Chisholm’s signature.
“I've been in touch with Darryl over the past six or seven years and, when he got the job at Ky, it was a no-brainer to follow him,” the recruit said.
Contact for seven years?
There must be a more personal point of connection between the two?
Correct.
“He was at Strathfieldsaye and me being a Kyneton boy, I was always watching them when he was there,” Chisholm said.
“And before coming over to Centrals I spent about eight weeks training at Strath with him, and we always kept in touch and regularly spoke about football.”
It was Wilson who put the question to Chisholm about joining Ky.
And now he has his man.
Who, in our discussion, consistently mentioned a desire to divert to a different chapter.
He turns the page as a versatile option, capable of playing off half-back or in the half-forward line.
But the recruit expects to be in the guts as an inside mid — at least from the first bounce of 2027.
And joining him in the red and black will be Nick Holman and Kaine Herbert, stars Chisholm can’t wait to go into battle with.
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