Port Adelaide champion Travis Boak reflects on journey, family, staying loyal ahead of 350th game

Travis Boak and Robbie Gray didn’t speak on the plane from Melbourne to Adelaide. It was an awkward start but would flourish into two great Port Adelaide careers. Boak speaks to MATT TURNER ahead of his 350th game.

Motivation for why Travis Boak is still playing football at age 35 and on the brink of 350 games can be found in photographs displayed at home.

One close to the Port Adelaide veteran’s bed is of his late father, Roger, from their last Christmas together.

Another is of Boak and his sister Sarah wearing Torquay Tigers’ No. 5 guernseys as toddlers, running out hand-in-hand with their Dad for his 200th game for the club.

Nearby are two pictures from Boak’s only footy premiership – an under-14 grand final win for Torquay with him as captain and his father as coach.

One is of him and Roger holding the cup aloft on stage post-match, the other at home kissing the trophy on the family couch.

Those photos inspire the Power champion in his chase for an elusive flag in his 18th AFL season and as he prepares for his latest milestone on Sunday.

Port Adelaide great Travis Boak after winning an under-14 flag for Torquay, alongside his dad and coach Roger. Picture: Supplied

“They definitely do for the memories of how special the moment is but based on the way the journey is put together,” says Boak, whose father died from stomach cancer, aged 48, in May 2005.

“The moments of having Dad be my coach and training and that kind of stuff, then to share that moment is really special.

“But it’s the whole reason why I’m still playing footy today – what I’ve learnt from Dad, what I’ve learnt from Mum (Chicki).

“To celebrate milestones and (trying to) win premierships is based off of the support they’ve given me so it’s certainly motivation for sure.”

Boak will become the 23rd footballer in VFL/AFL history to reach 350 games.

Only Collingwood’s Scott Pendlebury (385) has featured in more among present-day players.

In a nice bit of symmetry, Boak’s milestone is against the Tigers – Richmond.

Travis and Sarah Boak running out with Roger for his 200th game.

Torquay, where Roger is a legend and the clubrooms are named in his honour, also play in black with a gold sash

Boak donned the No. 5 in his one senior game for the side, a year after his father’s death.

It happened to be at Queenscliff, the same ground he ran out with Roger for his 200th match.

The Port Adelaide AFL games record holder returned to the Victorian surf coast over summer to spend time with family and play cricket for the Tigers.

Boak’s first cameo in a few years for his junior club came in December against his hometown of Jan Juc, which had Carlton superstar Charlie Curnow and his older brother Ed.

“It was funny, a mate from back home messaged me on the weekend (saying) ‘it’s a big weekend for Torquay, who are playing in the granny in the cricket this weekend’,” Boak says.

“I wrote back ‘Go Tigers’ but then was like ‘s***, I meant the Torquay Tigers’.

“It’s funny how it all works out.”

Travis Boak bowling for Torquay, while Charlie Curnow is batting for Jan Juc. Picture: Alan Barber

Boak will have his mum, sisters, brother-in-law, cousins and close friends, including one from the US he met travelling about 10 years ago, at the MCG on Sunday.

His career started with Chicki uncharacteristically swearing when her son was selected by Port Adelaide at pick 5 in 2006, 18 months after Roger’s death.

Boak’s earliest memories as a Power player are of sitting next to Robbie Gray and Ryan Williams on the post-draft flight over from Melbourne and not speaking to Gray.

Gray’s Oakleigh Chargers had knocked Boak’s Geelong Falcons out of the TAC Cup finals that year.

“But then we got off the flight and almost became best mates straight away,” Boak says.

The midfielder made an inauspicious start to life at Alberton.

“My first training session at the club, I reckon I got through about 10 minutes then had heatstroke and couldn’t complete the session,” he says with a laugh.

“It was kind of on the up from there.”

By the end of his debut season, Boak was playing in a grand final, an eventual record 119-point loss to Geelong.

Travis Boak at his press conference for his 350th game. Picture: Mark Brake

He thought he might only stay at Alberton for two years, but he remained loyal.

Most notably Boak knocked back the Cats after a brazen trip to Adelaide to lure him in 2012 when the Power was on its knees in the last season of his contract.

Coach Ken Hinkley said “in some ways he is the reason why Port Adelaide is still around”.

Boak concedes he was very close to leaving.

“It was a big decision to make and one that took a fair bit of time to process,” he says.

“Mum and Dad certainly raised me to be a loyal person and that’s certainly a value I’ve tried to hold pretty close.”

great to have some of @travisboak10’s former teammates surprise him at the club today to wish him well ahead of game 350 🤝 pic.twitter.com/bqoxlJEBA5

— Port Adelaide FC (@PAFC) March 20, 2024

Boak has become a dual best-and-fairest winner, three-time All-Australian, the Power’s longest serving skipper and a Brownlow Medal runner-up (2020).

His future was in the balance again at the end of last season after the Power’s straight-sets finals exit.

He ultimately felt he had more left in the tank and re-signed on a one-year deal.

Boak is unsure if this season will be his last – “we’ll discuss that as the year goes on”.

For now, he is soaking everything up.

On Wednesday, former Power teammates, including Darryl Wakelin from Boak’s first season in 2007, Dean Brogan, Jacob Surjan, Toby Thurstans, Danyle Pearce, Tom Logan, Kane Cornes and Paddy Ryder, paid tribute to him at a surprise lunch at Alberton.

Travis Boak with his mother Chicki and sister Cassie in 2019. Picture: Mark Brake

“To have the young guys there in the same room – what I’ve learnt from both groups has been incredible,” Boak says.

The former skipper thanked the club, the community, fans and his teammates for their role in getting him where he is.

“I’ve already had an amazing amount of messages from supporters and won’t be able to get back to everyone but I do receive them, and there’s no doubt they’ve helped me along the way,” he says.

Boak is as motivated as ever to end Port’s 20-year drought by capturing his first flag since that under-14 triumph for Torquay.

His biggest driver remains his family.

“I think Dad would be pretty proud,” he says, reflecting.

“You get a bit emotional thinking about it all and wish he was here to see it.

“But I know that he’s been supporting throughout the whole journey.

“Every game when I run out onto the ground, I still look up to the sky.

“I’ll be doing that again this weekend and he’ll be watching.”

Originally published as Port Adelaide champion Travis Boak reflects on journey, family, staying loyal ahead of 350th game