Saturday’s Semi Final against the GWS Giants could be Travis Boak’s last game for Port Adelaide.
The Power veteran is one of multiple Port Adelaide players still without a contract for 2024, but is the biggest name of them all.
Boak, 35, has played 347 games since coming to Port Adelaide back in 2006 and is no doubt a great of the club.
But he’s been relegated to the substitute role on four occasions in 2023 while his numbers have fallen off a cliff in his 17 appearances this year.
SEN Chief Sports Reporter Sam Edmund reports Boak and the club are at an impasse.
“He’s been told he’s done at Port Adelaide, but he doesn’t think he’s done,” he told SEN’s Whateley on Tuesday.
“So the question is would he be willing to play elsewhere and who would take him? A celebrated, loyal player at Port Adelaide Football Club whose – in the mind of the club – playing days are done.
“But Travis Boak, what will he look to do with his playing future going forward?”
There’s no indication of rival interest in Boak, but the three-time All-Australian did average 27 disposals and six clearances a game as recently as last year.
Club great Kane Cornes took a deeper dive into Boak’s position at Alberton on SEN’s Sportsday.
“He wants to go on. I think the club is saying, ‘look, Travis, we don’t want you to finish your career playing SANFL’,” Cornes – who played alongside Boak for nine years – said.
“You’re an absolute champion of this club and you’re probably in the top five all-time Port Adelaide players. But the writing is on the wall for him.
“Is he the right sub is the question? Are they just playing him as the sub because they’re afraid to make a hard call?”
In the Power’s losing Qualifying Final effort against Brisbane on Friday, Boak was activated as the sub in the third term and finished with five disposals.
He was drafted out of Victoria and despite rival interest during the peak of his powers – particularly from Geelong – has always remained loyal to Port Adelaide.
The likes of Scott Lycett, Orazio Fantasia, Quinton Narkle and more are all also out of contract, while captain Tom Jonas has announced his retirement.
Port Adelaide takes on the Giants on Saturday night at the Adelaide Oval in a bid to play Collingwood in a Preliminary Final.