Travis Boak keeps doors open at Port Adelaide

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

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 yesterday dismissed a series of doubts about his football future.

But the 23-year-old left in the balance where he will play next season, encouraging Geelong to believe its Plan B strike in SA - after missing out on Dangerfield - is still alive.

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 became a 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 which have been drawn into the debate on his future at Alberton.

CASH is not a concern, particularly when rival clubs can outbid the strapped Power. This puts him out of reach of new AFL franchise Greater Western Sydney which can claim an uncontracted Port player this year.

COACH Matthew Primus has not fallen out with his manager Tom Petroro. Nor has he offended Boak by publicly questioning his development as a player a fortnight ago.

"He (Primus) just meant I was not happy with my form and how I was going," said Boak.

"I've spoken to him about it. I've said I want to take the next step. I'm working closer with him and other coaches to hopefully get better and help the team improve."

BOAK still believes he can fulfil his dream to be an AFL premiership player at the Power.

"No, I don't think I'd be better off somewhere else," said Boak.

The doubt on Boak's future is fuelled by there being no move to sign a contract after he publicly declared his wish to stay at Port on March 8. "At the start of the year my manager and I spoke to (Port football operations chief) Peter Rohde and said I would talk to my family in the mid-season break and we would go from there," said Boak.

"What I said at the start of the year about being happy at the club and loving the club has not changed at all."

Geelong is the only AFL rival that can give Boak an out from Alberton. The cashed-up 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 Brownlow Medallist Gary Ablett to Gold Coast - to secure the trade that Port would find difficult to block.

Power midfielder Steven Salopek last night transferred from SANFL club Glenelg to the Port Adelaide Magpies with an undisclosed fee.

His exit was forced after falling to the reserves twice this season.