Hamish Hartlett remains grateful to Travis Boak for his endless support at Port Adelaide

HAMISH Hartlett cannot speak more glowingly of his Port Adelaide captain Travis Boak, even if others will have it that they are far from mates, let alone compatible team-mates.

Hamish Hartlett and Travis Boak walk off after beating Brisbane last year. Picture: Sarah Reed

HAMISH Hartlett cannot speak more glowingly of his Port Adelaide captain Travis Boak, even if others will have it that they are far from mates, let alone compatible team-mates.

In the past 12 months Hartlett and Boak have had to dismiss - with little success - that they have fallen out with off-field issues related to Boak’s former girlfriend. And then there was the claim on radio that Harlett’s rise to the Power vice-captaincy - a role he no longer holds - had fractured the team base at Alberton.

Against this image are the accounts of how Boak sought to keep Hartlett at Port Adelaide during the AFL trade period in October - and how they played golf at Grange immediately before Hartlett declared his intent to stay with the Power.

“Travis was phenomenal with his support for me throughout the whole trade question,” Hartlett said. “He said, ‘Mate, I don’t want you to go. I want you to stay at this footy club - I need you, this club needs you.’

“He was supporting me the whole way.”

This theme does not match what is said outside Alberton, particularly in social media where Hartlett has closed his Twitter account and leaves his more vocal brother Adam to speak without the fall-out that is associated with any AFL player’s remarks.

“It (the scuttlebutt on Boak) plays no bearing on anything that Trav and I do - and it has had no influence on our relationship at any point in time,” Hartlett said. “Because it is rubbish.

“It was not until the end of the year that I reflected on all that and thought there’s a bit going on with a lot of talk about me that was rumour and innuendo. I started to wonder if that did affect my performance. So I’ll be more than happy to go through this year without any of that stuff.

“A lot of it does come off the back of how the team is going. When we are not performing very well as a group, people want answers - and they will question why certain things are not working. Unfortunately, I was wrapped up in a lot of those questions.”

Boak and Hartlett has been replaced by Boak and Ollie Wines as a captain and vice-captain team this season. But the bond between two team-mates - and mates - is not broken.

“In the past two to three years the relationship between Boaky and I has grown significantly,” Hartlett said.

“We lean on each other a helluva lot at training, around the footy club, constantly helping each other to improve. I could not be any more complimentary and thankful to Trav for what he has done, not only at the footy club since he has been captain but to me as a personal friend. He is so caring.

“He was always very supportive (during the trade question). His advice the whole time was do what is best for you - as simple as that.”

Hartlett remains in the Power’s leadership group. To lose the vice-captaincy - after just one season - on a coach and player vote was not a shock to Hartlett.

“For the first 24 hours after I was told I was not going to be the vice-captain I was disappointed,” Hartlett said.

“But more so in the fact that I didn’t perform and didn’t deserve to maintain the vice-captaincy. That is what I was mainly disappointed with - and I was thrilled for Ollie who is absolutely the right guy and the next guy to captain this football club.”

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Originally published as Hamish Hartlett remains grateful to Travis Boak for his endless support at Port Adelaide