Originally from Cleve in Port Adelaide’s country zone, Chalmers was a highly rated player from his early teens, playing for the State Schoolboys Under-15s in 1988.
[2] By this time, Chalmers had already played some games for the Port Adelaide thirds,[2] but never even considered going to Punt Road.
[3] Frustrated by their failure to convince Chalmers to join the club, and with their hold expiring with the 1992 AFL National Draft, Richmond attempted to trade Chalmers to numerous other AFL clubs, most notably St. Kilda[4] and Hawthorn.
[5] Chalmers insisted he would play in the AFL only with Collingwood — with whom Richmond were implacably opposed to doing any deal because they believed doing so constituted subverting the draft[5] — although when drafted Chalmers announced he would not join Collingwood until 1994.
He totalled 75 AFL games, but continued to play for the SANFL Magpies when recovering from injury or losing form.