Spending every Saturday morning on a plane leaving Brisbane for Melbourne sounds exactly like what most people dread in winter — and all that to smash into people for a couple of hours afterwards.
Marcus Khoo, the 21-year-old big man in the middle for the Goulburn Valley League’s 2023 runner-up Kyabram, wouldn’t have it any other way.
It’s no easy life, mind you, especially as a big ruck navigating all that travel.
Nonetheless, Khoo was happy to sign on the dotted line as a fly in, fly out almost mercenary-style tap artist for the Bombers following a pre-season injury to Zac Norris.
The main question — although, inevitably, there are many — is how did he get here?
Going back to the beginning the links lie in the lineage.
“My dad has always been huge on Aussie rules. He used to play in the SANFL for West Torrens back in the day, so he’s probably the one who got me into footy,” Khoo said.
“I started playing under-8s and sort of fell in love with the game from there.
“I was at Redland Sharks back then, although, they’re now Victoria Point Sharks, and I’ve now played about 170 games for them up here.
“He pushed it on me very early and I fell right in love, so I think I would have always gone down the Aussie rules route.
“I always thought it was an awesome sport.”
Not always the words you expect from a born and bred Queenslander who would have the frame to excel in other disciplines.
Maintaining that the sport had enough appeal on its own that he would have explored it regardless of parental connections, Khoo’s desire has always been there.
Going under the wing of a fellow ruck he holds in the utmost regard hasn’t hurt his chances of success either.
“The club I’ve come from is a pretty strong team, but I think the opportunity to go down to Victoria is huge in itself,” Khoo said.
“Victoria Point has a ruckman called Craig Malone, who’s been huge for me and my development.
“I’d say he’s one of the better rucks not to have played AFL and to have him mentoring me has been absolutely awesome.”
Kyabram, though?
How does he land in the Campaspe Shire’s red and black?
The path that brought him to this competition has him closely intertwined with a current Kyabram teammate — one who has previously been profiled by The News.
“I was in the Brisbane Lions academy at the same time as Jake Torney and I played at Mount Gravatt when he was there,” Khoo said.
“I also played with Bailey Tome and Jackson Griffiths, who are both at Ky now.
“Jake sent me a text, after Zac Norris got injured, and asked if I’d be interested in flying down to do some ruck for Ky and we got it rolling from there after Corey Carver got in touch with me.”
That academy time, much like Torney’s, had plenty of obstacles along the way as his prospects took flight.
Cruelled by injury without receiving a genuine chance to shine at Lions level, the difficulties posed only served to strengthen the big man’s resolve.
“The year I was supposed to do the (now-Coates Talent League) stuff in 2021, I broke my ankle. After that, I got really down,” Khoo said.
“It was hard going into a season without much work done beforehand, but you just have to knuckle down and work hard to get back to where you are.
“As I got injured the academy dropped me off and got rid of me; that really gave me motivation to try and prove them wrong.
“When you get dropped without getting to show anything, I feel like that’s a bit tough, so trying to prove people wrong and say that I really can play footy was the main thing.”
Now back to his best, Khoo is taking on the hardly fathomable routine of flying down from the Sunshine State each and every match day, travelling up the Hume Hwy, taking on the competition’s best big men and hopping back on the road to another flight home after dark.
Benefitting from the favourable arrangement of continuing to train with his beloved Sharks, who play division one of the QAFL, you’d think cohesion would suffer only spending two hours a week with the Bombers.
Khoo got his wish to remain permanently based up north, though.
“It was a fairly easy deal to set up,” Khoo said.
“I had discussions with the Sharks and asked if they’d still be happy for me to train there and they were fine with that.
“Ky wanted to try and get me to relocate, but I couldn’t afford to do that since I’m still at uni here and working as well.
“We thought flying down was the best option and, luckily, they could facilitate that.”
Of course, the arrangement naturally presents much bigger obstacles than simply hasty changeroom handshakes.
Describing a routine that sometimes results in 19-hour commitments on a Saturday, Khoo outlined some of the close calls his massive travel undertakings have caused.
“There have been a couple of times where I’ve gotten there about 45 minutes before a game starts,” Khoo said.
“When you have to get changed and get the rub and strapping done, it doesn’t leave much time, so you do feel a bit tight sometimes.
“I play much better when I can get there way before, but there’s not much you can do about it.
“I’ve had a few flight delays, but they haven’t impacted too much, so I’ve been lucky on that.
“I do live an hour from Brisbane Airport, so I’m up at 5am, heading there, sitting around, flying down to get picked up by one of the Melbourne-based boys and then by the time I’m back up and home again, it might be about midnight.”