Port Adelaide's only All-Australian nominee Travis Boak vows to play on after career-best year
Ex-Port skipper Travis Boak — the only Power player included in the All-Australian squad — will play on for a 14th season and believes the club’s young players are the best he has seen at the club.
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Former Port Adelaide captain Travis Boak has confirmed he will play for a 14th season next year and declared he had never seen such an exciting bunch of kids at the club.
On a day he was announced in the 40-man All-Australian squad and the Power reiterated that coach Ken Hinkley would remain at the helm for 2020, Boak said he would enter pre-season training as enthusiastic as at any time of his career because of the “special group’’ of young players he hailed as the best he had seen in his 264-game career.
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“We’re obviously disappointed to have missed the finals this year but the team is in a really good position moving forward,’’ Boak said after Port finished its 2019 campaign with a 43-point trouncing and an 11-11 win-loss record to finish 10th.
“I’ve never seen a better group of young players coming through at the same time, there is some serious talent here, and it’s really exciting for the footy club.
“There’s the obvious ones who have been spoken about a lot, Connor (Rozee), Xave (Xavier Duursma) and Butts (Zak Butters), but if you look deeper there's Drewy (Willem Drew), Toddy Marshall and Darcy Byrne-Jones and Dan Houston, who have played a bit of footy but have just improved so much this year.
“There’s just so much growth in this group, which is so exciting for the future. I’m convinced our future is bright and that we can make a real impact on the competition next year.’’
Boak, who is the only Port played named in this year’s 40-man All-Australian squad, enjoyed a career year at age 31 and has vowed to continue playing.
After relinquishing the Power captaincy in the off-season, the hard-running midfielder averaged a career-high 30 disposals.
His total of 637 was 124 more than the next-ranked Port player, fellow on-baller Tom Rockliff (513).
“I'm definitely going on again and am really confident in my body, which held up really well this year,’’ Boak said.
“I found a bit of the ball and am really enjoying my footy.
“When you’ve got such serious talent coming through that you’re playing alongside each week it helps you enjoy your footy and I’m looking forward to seeing what this group can do.’’
Boak’s 264 games rank third in Power history behind retired Kane Cornes (300) and current teammate Justin Westhoff (268).
Boak backed Westhoff — last year’s club champion — to also extend his career for another season.
“We changed our game style this year to be more attacking and with another pre-season of training under our belts that should be even better next year,’’ Boak said.
“Obviously our consistency let us down this season but we showed that our best football was able to match it with the best teams in the comp and we feel with the development and growth we’ve got in our team we have some real momentum going into next year.’’