Port Adelaide captain Travis Boak’s warning to rivals

Port Adelaide captain Travis Boak has fired back at the pundits questioning his team's premiership credentials, declaring its best is yet to come.

• Power chase answers against Cats
• Stand up and be counted: Warren Tredrea
• Port Adelaide to ride ruck storm

PORT Adelaide captain Travis Boak has fired back at the pundits questioning his team's premiership credentials, declaring its best is yet to come.

The Power has slipped from second flag favourite behind Sydney after its 3-0 start to equal-fifth in betting with Saturday night's opponent Geelong following its upset 22-point loss to Essendon.

But Boak said Port — which has played without lead ruckman Paddy Ryder (Achilles tendinitis) for the past three weeks — still has plenty of improvement left in it.

“Opinions on our side will probably change and fluctuate throughout the year and that’s fine,’’ the skipper said.

“For us it’s about who we are and what we can control and we are very happy with the group we’ve got and with the road we are heading.

“We know what we're about, we know what our best footy’s about and we don’t think we’ve gone anywhere near that as yet.

“Our expectations as a group are always very, very high and they won’t change throughout the year.

“We know that our best footy is still to come and we’re still finding our feet in terms of the footy we’re able to play.

“But at 3-1 were still in a great position.”

Boak suggested that in its first four games Port had only played at its best for a half — the second against the Swans at the SCG when it stormed back from a 14-point deficit to win by 23 points.

“I think the biggest thing for us is that we’ve been inconsistent,’’ he said.

“We’ve played some really good footy but the challenge for us now is to make sure that we produce that consistently throughout the four quarters.’’

The Power has won just one of three first halves, losing the past three to Sydney, Brisbane and Essendon.

“As I said, we are nowhere near our best yet which is a pretty exciting thing for our group,’’ Boak said.

He defended key off-season acquisitions Steven Motlop, Jack Watts and Tom Rockliff who have yet to fire on all cylinders.

“Those guys have certainly got to find their feet in terms of coming into the group and playing our style of footy but I think they’ve settled in really well,’’ Boak said.

“Obviously ‘Rocky’ has had a little bit of an interrupted pre-season and again a little injury (calf) on the weekend, so he’s going to face challenges through that.

“But we think we are pretty settled in terms of the guys coming into our group and playing our style of footy and their roles when they come into the side.’’

[e-mail]