The Ballarat-based centre travels to Warrnambool for specialised drills with his Seahawks' teammates before hopping back in his car and returning home.

"It makes it very difficult considering I have a young family but I make it as much as I can down here, at least once a week," Byron said.

"And of course I am travelling every week for games - even home games are away games for me. In fact I travel further for home games than I do for away games."

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Byron, who turns 30 in a few weeks' time, said it was a sacrifice which impacted valuable family time and thanked wife Samantha and children Cooper, 9, and Charlie, 2, for their understanding which enabled him to fulfil a long-held dream.

He always harboured a desire to play for Warrnambool - his home-town club - again after more than a decade away suiting up in the Ballarat Youth League and then for fellow Big V club Melton.

"I decided I'd prefer to finish here. It makes a bit more sense, I have more family here," Byron said.

"It's huge for me actually. As corny as it sounds, I always dreamed about playing back in Warrnambool no matter where I was playing basketball or how far I got.

"It's home and always will be home and the first game, even though it was an away game, it was a very nice feeling putting on the green uniform. It was almost emotional."

Byron said it was important for his wife and children to be part of the journey.

"They have been to the majority of the home games because my family is here, it's a bit easier on my beautiful wife if she has help with the kids because it's late nights for them," he said.

Byron - a former Brauer College student and Old Collegians footballer - hopes his decision culminates in a championship tilt.

The Seahawks, who host Keysborough at the Arc on Saturday night, sit sixth with eight wins and nine losses with five games remaining.

Byron, who aims to provide the "main defensive presence in the middle" and "some form of experience for the younger blokes", believes the team is capable of playing finals.

"It would be a very nice feeling to get into the playoffs. I think we can, absolutely we can, we all just have to switch on and work together," he said.

"The word we use a lot is guts. We get after it defensively and offensively we share the basketball and everyone can score and most of our scores come off assists.

"Defensively when we're on we're one of the better teams in the league so we just have to maintain that consistency."

Byron, who joked he held "the honest and trustworthy profession of car salesman", is unsure of his long-term playing future.

"I would love to say yes I'll be here for the next X amount of years but it's a year-by-year thing and if it works out to be a bit too tough on the family and financially then maybe this is the last year. But if I can play, I will," he said.

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