Ken Hinkley praises Travis Boak’s ‘remarkable achievement’ of upcoming 350th game

Power coach Ken Hinkley was full of praise for veteran Travis Boak ahead of his 350th game, hailing his importance to both the team and the entire footy club.

30.11.2018.Port Adelaide announcement. Travis Boak has stepped down as captain of Port Adelaide after 6 seasons. Travis Boak with Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley. PIC TAIT SCHMAAL.

Port Adelaide star Travis Boak’s 350th game being an away game will take nothing from how the club will celebrate the “remarkable achievement” and how the former captain himself should feel about it, Power senior coach Ken Hinkley says.

The 35-year-old will become the first player in the club’s history to play 350 AFL games when he takes to the field against Richmond at the MCG on Sunday.

A former captain of the club, a three-time All-Australian and two-time John Cahill Medallist, Boak’s decision to stay at Alberton rather than entertain a move to Geelong – where he is from – was seen as huge for the Power turning its fortunes around on and off the field after its low point at the start of the 2010s.

Hinkley highlighted Boak’s importance to the Power in his tenure. (Photo by Mark Brake/Getty Images)

Hinkley – who will coach his 250th game as well on Sunday – said Boaks importance to the Power could not be overstated.

“I think we should certainly acknowledge Travis’ (achievement), 350 games is a remarkable achievement in football and in some ways he is the reason why Port Adelaide is almost still around,” he said.

“That might be a bit too rich to go with but in some ways if you think way back to when he first started, and I have been lucky enough to coach him for 240 of those games or something.

“So I have been blessed to have coached him for that period of time and the important thing for us is as it always is in any milestone games is perform well, play well and make sure you represent the club and then celebrate later.

“The lead-up shouldn’t be missed how many games 350 is, it is a remarkable number.”

Boak played his 300th game in front of an empty Marvel Stadium in 2021, and then broke Kane Cornes’ AFL games record a week later as well in front of no crowd.

Boak will notch up game 350 this weekend. (Photo by James Elsby/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

Hinkley said he hadn’t thought about making sure Boak had his 350th at Adelaide Oval.

“I’ll let you ask him if he wants to miss,” he said.

“It is funny, the amount of games you play they are competitive people and they don’t want to miss any games of football.

“Trav is from Victoria and I say this to him with every game he plays there celebrate with the people who have been around you for a long period of time.

“The people in the stands they are probably going to enjoy it more than Travis will, his family will enjoy it more, his mum will enjoy it more.

“Travis is going out there to make sure they have a moment to enjoy it and I’m not going to be the one to crash the party and say you aren’t going to Melbourne.”