AFL 2022: Travis Boak one-on-one with former teammate Tom Rockliff

Travis Boak is already Port Adelaide’s AFL games record-holder but, as he tells former teammate Tom Rockliff, he’s not even thinking about the ‘r’ word.

Travis Boak has no plans for retirement just yet Picture: Getty Images

Travis Boak was instrumental in luring Tom Rockliff to Port Adelaide when he decided to leave Brisbane.

The Power star speaks to his former teammate about his incredible first year at AFL level, the lessons he took from his dad dying of cancer when he was a teenager, how he helped Sam Powell-Pepper overcome his off-field issues, his interesting relationship with Robbie Gray and how long he is planning on playing for.

Tom Rockliff: You were a big factor in getting me here (to Port Adelaide) and a lot of others as well. You are predominantly the main driver from a player point of view. Why do you go out of your way to do that?

Travis Boak: I think for many years, certainly those challenging years, it was not a destination club for a lot of people. We struggled to get players here when the club was struggling on the field. Once Kenny (Hinkley) came along and we started to change things around we wanted to get some really quality players as well as people at the club.

I knew right from when I walked through the doors that this footy club is a special place to be… and for us to become a good side we needed some quality players like yourself to come to the footy club and help the group that was already there.

Rockliff and Boak in pre-season training, Picture SARAH REED

Not only that, I thought we could help the players that were coming in as well. Whether that be through the connection and the relationships we do have. But we want to be a really good club so it’s important not just to get good young talent in but also good players. They make a big difference to our footy club and along with our culture and the way we train, the way that we operate we can help those players be their best self as well.

TR: Let’s talk a little about your footy journey. You walked into a grand final in your first year and have been in three preliminary finals since. Talk us through that, did you think when you got here you got in the team in the middle of the year.

TB: Yeah Round 14 was my first game I think.

TR: And then you played throughout the year and in the finals, it didn’t go your way in the grand final but did you think it was just going to happen from there?

TB: Yeah probably. That first year was just surreal. Like any young kid just coming in you just want to play, you want to get in the side and have a kick and that side we had that year was incredible.

Some of the talent and old boys we had was incredible, we went on a really good winning streak which was good to be a part of and yeah you get to a grand final and you get smacked by a hundred and whatever points but you still think you can get there next year but from that point on it was just an absolute ride and challenge just to make the eight and win games of footy.

So that was definitely a lesson and the prelims, yeah they hurt a lot. I remember after losing to Hawthorn in 2014 and being in the rooms after losing by three points it was just painful knowing you have put in all that effort and fallen just short to get to grand final day and to give yourself a chance.

And it was the same after the Richmond one and the Doggies one, it just burns within you knowing how much work your whole group and yourself puts in from the off-season up until that moment.

TR: I want to take you back before your footy started because it is often spoken about how kids don’t learn resilient lessons and we don’t understand what it is like to cope with loss. You went through the biggest loss any kid can go through, how do you think it has shaped you and you turned it into a real strength for you and have been able to honour your dad through the Rogers underwear brand you launched?

TB: Life is hard, life is full of challenges and I think as kids and as parents we have to experience those things. It is just life and then the role of the parents and the leaders in the community to help the younger generation through the challenges we get in life I think that then builds resilience knowing that you can face certain challenges.

And you get to understand you more as a person when you do face those dark times, and we can’t avoid them. The more we avoid the tough stuff in life, the challenges in life or the harder things in life the less we will enjoy the journey and what life has to offer and I think that is a big lesson for everyone whether you are a parent, a role model in the community we have to help each other.

It’s vulnerability at its highest point and I think it creates the courage to face life.

The brand Rogers came about a fair few years ago. I was talking to my cousin and I always wanted to get involved in a fashion sort of thing and we came up with a name, dad’s name.

Boak posses for pictures with Phoebe O from Chadwick models at Maroubra Beach in Rogers underwear . Picture by Damian Shaw

We wanted to create a business based off our family values and the values of dad and then try and match it in with expressing who he was as a person and what values he had, being yourself and enjoying life.

TR: It’s a beautiful thing to do. You get to go home and play Geelong this weekend and then go and spend some time with your mum and sisters. What does that mean to you?

TB: Yeah very special, and we haven’t played in Geelong for ages as well. I haven’t been able to get back there as much as I would have liked, I did get back for a little bit over Christmas. But with Covid it has been really hard to see your family and extended family. I’ll stay over a night and hopefully get a surf in the next day but being back around where you grow up there is something peaceful about it.

TR: Pepps (Sam Powell-Pepper) moved in with you when he was struggling a little bit, more so off the field than on the field. But he came and moved in with you and he must have challenged you as well and let you down. Those moments when he did screw up were you hard on him or soft on him?

TB: I was probably softer on him than my sister Cass.

The first thing about Pepp you have to know about him is that he has the biggest heart. So how I would describe him, the first time he met mum, he’d never met or spoke to her before, she came over and walked into the house and Pepp was first up off the couch and gave her a massive hug.

And that is the person he is, he’s just the kindest and caring person. So we kind of clicked straight away when he moved over and within weeks I was like “mate do you want to move in?”.

Boak along with Robbie Gray and Sam Powell-Pepper.. Photo - Naomi Jellicoe

He’s had his challenges and made mistakes along the way, how I was on him it was certainly tough some of the things but we had honest conversations. I needed him to open up on why he was doing some of the things and why he put himself in certain situations.

We got past the sort of angry and frustration phase I just know the person he is, there is a reason why we do some of the things we do and I just wanted to get behind that mask in a sense and help him make better decisions in the future.

We aren’t perfect and we all make mistakes but we need to make sure that they are a lesson and they aren’t repetitive and that was my role in a sense to help him learn through it.

TR: I think that made you a great captain, your care and empathy for people is something that not many people have. Moving into that space the work you do regarding childhood cancer it is an enormous amount of work that you do but is it because of your empathy that you do it?

TB: My main thing what I wanted to do was to get into hospitals to help and take away some of the pain, thoughts and challenges that families and the kids who are going through cancer.

My journey with dad and our family when he had cancer was that we were in the hospital a lot when I was 15 and 16. Dad was in and out of hospital and it was the worst experience you could imagine.

The moment dad passed away it was almost like, I wouldn’t say a relief but it just lessens… it’s hard to describe but the build up to it is horrible and for him passing away after being in so much pain you just want that pain to be gone.

And for mum to be going what she was going through with us in hospital it was horrible.

So when I first came here my mentor was the governor Kevin Scarce and I went to talk to him about getting involved with Childhood Cancer and they didn’t get any funding from the government so I thought lets help these guys out and the number one thing was that I wanted to go into the hospitals and be hands on and take away some of the stuff that I had to deal with when I was in there with dad.

TR: I think anyone who has lost someone or who has been through something like that can relate to that, so trying to make it an easier experience in some way for the kids is a credit to you.

I have a feeling who you are going to say but who is the one teammate you have bonded in a way more than just footy and why is that relationship so important and how have you two grown over the years?

TB: Well it is funny because we didn’t speak to each other when we got on the plane to Adelaide from Melbourne after we got drafted, which is a common story now.

TR: That’s Robbie Gray.

TB: Yep that’s Robbie. We’ve spent 15/16 years together so it is no surprise we have built up a pretty strong friendship. But we don’t talk too much footy to be honest any more, and I think with Rob he has certainly inspired me with the challenges he has faced.

We had some great fun early on, we live together and enjoyed our younger years and then he had the knee injury and to see his development from that as an athlete to where he got to now.

Gray and Boak. Picture: Getty Images

His commitment to becoming the best athlete he is and then the (testicular) cancer battle which doesn’t get spoken about too much. To see his positivity and drive to get through that. I think he then did the pre-season after his treatment and is an All-Australian that year. That stuff just doesn’t happen and it just inspires you to be a better version of yourself.

I think we just formed a great relationship and then that translates onto the field. He is the only person I look to when I’m going inside 50 at times which can frustrate Kenny.

It’s been a great journey and hopefully we can have one last bit of success before we hang up the boots.

TR: Mick Fanning and the Red Bull connection there. I love it when two athletes from different sports get together how has the relationship between you and him transpired?

TB: Well I was very lucky that Red Bull do this summit where all these athletes come together. It is a great concept, we speak about our journeys and how we handle different things. We are from different sports but we are all athletes and I met Mick on this first summit, that was the first meeting.

And from there we built a relationship and he is a down to earth, great person who just shares a lot of his knowledge. He has helped me a lot through my footy career, how to deal with ups and downs and things like that.

He is just a very generous man and every time I go up on the Goldy we catch up and I’ve been lucky enough to go on a couple of surfs with him. We did a little video for the documentary I’m doing and went out with Mick and there were just people everywhere. It was pretty amazing to watch.

TR: You spoke about your surfing, you also like your golf. How do you find a balance away from footy, is there anything else you do to take your mind away from a bad performance or a bad loss?

TB: Movies, TV shows, I’m a big sleeper other than after games when I can’t sleep. You say golf and surfing are escapes but they are a way to switch off really, you go play on the golf course and you get so competitive that all you think about is how bad your drive is so you don’t think about footy which you have to do and it’s the same for general life, you have to switch off from your work and the better you can do this the better you are at your work.

TR: You’ve said you want to play until you are 40 do you really see yourself playing for six more years after this year?

TB: I think if my body still feels the same as it does now then for sure. I think the love for the game and the passion to want to get better is the one thing that most guys when they retire say will go. If you have no motivation to go out there and train and get better then it is time to hang it up. So I don’t see that going any time soon, I just love trying to get everything out of my body and my mind and seeing what my potential is.

How long can Boak play on for. (Photo by Mark Brake/Getty Images)

And I think what helps is the group of guys we have at the club, the young guys who are starting to take over.

I can’t see myself leaving any time soon. It is too good of a job.

TR: Regardless of whether you finish in six, four or two years, what is next for Travis Boak?

TB: I love footy so I want to stay in it in some capacity. There is no way that I want to be a senior coach, that is just ridiculous. The amount of pressure they have and vision they watch I just couldn’t do it.

I love the individual mentoring and seeing the growth of players so to be involved in that way in some capacity whether that is performance wise, mindset wise or technical wise hopefully there is some role in that capacity so I can stay at the footy club and help these young guys realise their potential.