How Port Adelaide’s Travis Boak learnt to let go and realise he has more to give after 200 games

Port Adelaide’s Travis Boak has learned to let go, live in the moment and rediscovered himself. And now, at age 30, the former captain is reaping the benefits with career-best form.

• Hinkley’s faith in Power in face of great unknown
• Rucci: Should Port be trusted again?
• Power has licence to play on instinct
• Cornes: The gaping hole on Crows, Power lists
• Boak thrives in return to midfield

Travis Boak starts every week by sitting down on Sunday night with a book and a pen.

“I write down the three focuses I want to get out of the next game,” he tells The Advertiser after training and before he jumps in an ice bath for the fourth time this week.

“But I try to set them out and achieve them during the week.

“Without giving the focuses away, I’ll try to tick them off at training by doing extras or hitting running numbers, or stuff in the gym, or an extra Pilates session or meditation stuff.”

By Friday night if Boak looks at his book again and there are three ticks, he sleeps well.

“I know that I’ve done all the work on my three focuses that I possibly can, so I go into the game thinking ‘I couldn’t be any more prepared so whatever happens in the game happens’.

“It takes a lot of weight off the shoulders and clears the mind knowing you’ve done the work.”

“Being able to switch off is the biggest thing for me,” says Boak at home with his dog Suni. Picture: Matt Turner.

Doing the work has never been a problem for Boak who at 30 and after 246 games is in arguably career-best form.

After three games this season he is ranked No. 1 at Port Adelaide for disposals, contested ball, inside 50s and tackles, and No. 2 for clearances.

But it starts at home where Boak is meticulous with his diet. He’s recently gone back to skim instead of full cream milk and he only drinks in season after an occasion like a “couple of beers” after Robbie Gray’s 200th and Justin Westhoff’s 250th games last month.

And twice a week he pays the club’s chef to come around and cook for him, teammate Sam Powell-Pepper, his sister and her boyfriend.

“Times when you’re at the club until 6pm and you think ‘I could easily get Uber Eats’ and I’m not the greatest cook so he helps a lot there,” Boak said.

“I’ve got to 30 and somehow it’s so much bloody harder to lose weight.”

Boak is leading Port Adelaide in disposals, contested ball, tackles and inside 50s after three games this season. Picture: David Mariuz (AAP).

He’s in the ice bath with his teammates after every game, sleeps in compression tights (“it gets pretty hot though”) and three times a week watches TV in compression boots.

This year he’s even put an infra-red sauna in his house to aid recovery and force himself to relax.

Before bed gets in his pool — which isn’t heated and the water just 15C — then hops into the sauna where he reads, watches TV, checks his phone or sometimes just meditates.

“Then I try to get 8-9 hours sleep a night.”

On top of the regular footy training Boak also heads to Seaside Pilates at Largs Bay where he’s had his own coach for the past eight years.

At the club he works closely with mindfulness coach David Steventon which he describes as daunting and confronting but crucial to his wellbeing.

“Being able to switch off is the biggest thing for me and I’ve found that really difficult in the past,” says Boak as he soaks up the sun from the stands at Adelaide Oval.

“But I’ve learnt a lot in the last couple of years and taken that extra weight off, it’s about enjoying life as well as my job.

“I tend to worry and I’ve probably been a control freak a lot, and try to be perfect, and what I’ve learnt over the last few years is that’s a very bad thing.

“So I’ve learnt about letting go and to accept what is, to be perfectly honest.

“I’ve done a lot of work to basically understand myself and why I think like that, and I’ve done a lot more reading of books in that space.

“It’s living in the moment, letting go of a lot of the ego, being imperfect, just being you.

“It’s very daunting to go through that because a lot of us put a mask on and try to be a certain way, ‘I can’t let people see I’m weak’ or whatever.

“Now I’m just going out and being in the moment, not trying to be anyone else or perfect. I’m going to make a lot of mistakes on the ground and that’s OK, you’re human, where in the past I’ve probably gone out thinking ‘what are they going to think if I don’t hit this kick?’ but at the end of the day you just get on to the next one.”

Travis Boak, right, scratches his head after Port Adelaide’s season-ending loss to Essendon last year. Picture: SARAH REED

A lot of that freedom has come with relinquishing the captaincy at Port Adelaide this year. From the outside it looks like it’s rejuvenated him and Boak in part agrees.

For the past six years Boak has sat down with coach Ken Hinkley at the end of the season to discuss what just happened and what to do next.

Last September the conversation turned to the captaincy and Boak said neither of them brought it up first.

“We both sort of sensed that,” he said. “That it was probably about time. I’d just hit 30 and we could leave it in some really good hands going forward and I could play out my career and just enjoy my footy.”

Boak remained as vocal as ever in pre-season but in the three months since Ollie Wines and Tom Jonas were named as his successors he’s just tried to be there if they need him.

“I’ve got a huge amount of respect for Tommy and Ollie, it’s their ship to skipper now and if I see anything that I think might help I will say it 100 per cent, but it’s more about just being there for them,” he said.

“We’ve had chats and things like that but they’ve done an outstanding job so far. They’re both different in personality but have great ideas and it’s great for our group.

“I’ve certainly felt different but whether that’s a massive part of why, I’m not sure.

“The biggest thing for me is you don’t worry as much, it’s a lot easier to come home and switch off.

“When you’ve got the skipper duties you’re constantly thinking about ‘how can you improve the group’, ‘how are the boys feeling?’ ‘am I doing the right thing?’

“Nothing has changed in how I want to lead as a person, my values and showing empathy and trying to help — but I just think the worry is a little bit less.

“But I’ve done a lot of work on my mind and body in the last couple of years and it’s probably just all come together (at the same time).”

Port Adelaide’s new co-captains Tom Jonas and Ollie Wines with former captain Travis Boak. Picture Sarah Reed

To fill some of the void Boak has thrown himself into the club’s development program for the 1-4 year players and admits it’s a bit like looking in a mirror from 13 years ago. “I’m still that excited to come to training but when I first started I was a lot quieter and more shy,” he said.

“The kids who have come in now they’ve got so much swagger about them on the ground — which is what you want — it looks like they’ve played 100 games and that’s how they feel.

“You want them to come in and play their role rather than feel anxious.

“But when they’re at the club they’re really reliable, respectful and just want to learn and get better and that’s a perfect mix.

“And my role has been a lot of sitting in on meetings and trying to educate them on what I’ve learnt.

“They’re the future of the footy club and the quicker we can fast-track their development the better.”

Returning the No. 1 guernsey and getting his old No. 10 back has also brought added benefits like getting more time for himself.

Boak has gone back to his No. 10 guernsey after stepping down as captain at Port Adelaide this season. Picture: Sarah Reed.

Boak grew up near Torquay Golf Club and has recently reintroduced himself to his golf clubs. Surprise, surprise he plays off a handicap of 11 and is also a handy top-order batsman, making 87 in the preliminary final of the club’s Tuesday night T20 premiership season and taking a 3-for with the ball another week.

“That was one of the best things we’ve done as a club, just being able to spend more time with the boys away from the club in an environment that’s fun,” Boak said of the cricket flag.

“And for the club to allow us to do that, Kenny (Hinkley) was so supportive of it, it was great team bonding and hopefully we can keep it up.”

Besides stepping down as captain the other major turning point of Boak’s pre-season came around Christmas when Hinkley discussed him going back into the midfield.

Three years ago he was moved to half-forward and only played on the ball in spurts, and that was the plan again at the start of this pre-season.

But as summer progressed Boak found himself in the midfield more and more, and then Wines went down with injury and the move was cemented.

“We needed another one training in there and started to do a bit more work, and from there we just left it and pre-season games came around and I’ve spent more and more time in there every game.

“But we’ll continue to rotate that because we want to make sure our guys are fresh. By the end of last year some were probably burnt out from playing too much midfield time.

“So we’ve still got Ebo (Ebert), Robbie (Gray), Mots (Motlop) as well (as players like Wines, Rockliff, Powell-Pepper).”

Travis Boak at Port’s Friday training run at Adelaide Oval. Picture: AAP Image/Kelly Barnes

Boak didn’t think his days as a midfielder were numbered when Hinkley moved him forward three years ago but he’s glad to be back in the guts.

“I didn’t think about it too much, at the time I was just trying to be the best captain I could (in) whatever position that was,” he said. “Now it’s just enjoyable being back in there and the biggest thing for guys once you get to 30 is trying to maintain the same weight so putting a lot more time into the body becomes a big factor.”

He’s also been refreshed by working with new midfield coach Jarrad Schofield.

“He brings is a lot of freedom to the group and really backs us in as ‘this is how we want to play — now go for it’.

“With footy we can try to predict things like what the oppo is going to do, but a lot of different things happen in a game so we talk a lot about playing what we see.

“And that gives you a lot of freedom that instead of thinking ‘no, no I have to stand here or there’ you just go out there and play.”

REMEMBERING DAD — ON AND OFF THE FIELD

Boak looks skyward to remember his late father Roger before every game. Picture: Sarah Reed.

HE ISN’T the first man to appear at the top of the Port Adelaide race anymore but Travis Boak’s routine in the final moments before running onto the ground have not changed.

A ritual that Boak started as a teenager after losing his dad, Roger, to cancer, the Power midfielder looks skyward before running through the banner in his own personal tribute and precious moment of connection.

For six years it was there for all to see as he led Port Adelaide into battle as captain and now having stepped down he’s back in the pack but the tradition remains.

“Every time,” Boak said.

“I’ve done it ever since I was playing at the (Geelong) Falcons, it’s just a little look up to make sure he’s watching.”

Boak is now remembering and honouring his dad in business as well as football by starting his own underwear company ‘Rogers’.

The idea came about three years ago while talking with his cousin’s wife who was working for Rip Curl at the time. Boak wanted to get involved in the clothing and fashion industry and she urged him to think outside the square.

They decided on an underwear range and Boak tried on 15 samples before deciding on the right fit.

“That was the perfectionist kicking in — but that was a bit different, I wanted to make sure it was really good because we had dad’s name to it,” he said.

“It’s a family-type business and it’s based on his values — a caring, community person so we want to share our story, bring people together and just enjoy being you.”

Rogers is now in Myer in Adelaide and there are plans to launch an online store.

“It’s basically myself, my cousin and his wife and we’re talking with different people to grow the business, it’s been great for me to get away from footy and understand that,” Boak said.

“Because it’s putting me in a position where I have no idea, it’s all very new and I’m vulnerable, but at the same time it’s helping me grow as a person.

“And I’d love to get into it and grow the business after footy.”