Family holds key to Travis Boak's decision to move

TRAVIS Boak will play for either Port Adelaide or Geelong next season. And the decision hinges solely on his family's needs.

Travis Boak

TRAVIS Boak will play for either Port Adelaide or Geelong next season.

And the decision - to be made on a return home to Victoria during the Power's mid-season break in a fortnight - hinges solely on his family's needs.

A day after fellow Geelong-district recruit Patrick Dangerfield told his parents he was staying with the Crows, Boak dismissed doubts about his football future.

But the 23-year-old left where he will play next season in the balance, giving hope to Geelong, who missed out on Dangerfield.

Boak says he is revisiting the same non-football concerns he considered before re-signing with the Power in 2010.

These relate to his family home being without his father Roger, who died from cancer in 2005 - the year before Boak was plucked from Torquay as the No.6 draft pick.

"I'll talk to my family to make sure they are happy - that is what I am going through right now," said Boak, who will play his 100th AFL game on Saturday at AAMI Stadium against Carlton.

"My family is very close to me. They would love to have me home. But my mum and my sisters would never put that (pressure) on me.

"I need to know how they are feeling about things week to week by not having me home. Are we still good just talking on the phone? It's more the little things - are they coming over enough? - things like that. Small things."

Boak critically cleared away side issues drawn into the debate on his future at Alberton.

Geelong is the only AFL rival that can give Boak an out from Alberton. The Cats allow him to be close to his family and meet his AFL dreams at the same time.

Should Boak seek a move to Geelong, it would require a trade in October. The Cats do have compensation draft picks - after losing Gary Ablett to Gold Coast - to secure the trade that Port would find difficult to block.