Port star in high demand JAKE NIALL
May 6, 2010PORT Adelaide midfielder and former Victorian Travis Boak has emerged as one of the most keenly sought out-of-contract players in the competition, with several Victorian clubs and the Gold Coast having shown strong interest in the 21-year-old.
Essendon, Carlton, Collingwood,
Richmond, Melbourne and St Kilda are understood to be among the clubs to have registered an interest in Boak, who late last week put contract talks with Port on hold until mid-season. Geelong would be an interested party only in the event that Gary Ablett went to the Gold Coast and freed up salary cap room.
While Boak arguably also fits Hawthorn's needs, the Hawks' tight salary cap and need to re-contract the likes of Lance Franklin and Jarryd Roughead has removed them from any serious pursuit.
Boak is one of the most attractive players in the market place now due to the fact that, as a Victorian playing interstate - he grew up in Torquay - he has been seen as ''gettable''. Historically, homecoming players, like Chris Judd in 2007, represent the best chance of prising a player away from his club.
Port Adelaide, however, has a solid relationship with the player and is confident of retaining him. The Power, which is also seeking to re-contract another Victorian in Robbie Gray, and West Australian Nathan Krakouer, has offered Boak a two-year deal.
Boak's manager, Tom Petroro, met Port officials last Thursday and arranged to put contract talks on hold until mid-season.
Petroro indicated there was high interest in Boak due to the fact that he was playing out of state. ''As a Victorian boy interstate and he's a high draft pick, he's going to have a lot of interest. He also has the attributes that every club wants in their midfield.'' he said.
''Travis is contracted until the end of the year at Port and there is no hurry to extend. We feel Port have been fantastic to Travis since he was drafted and when the time is right we will sit down and discuss Trav's future.''
Boak also has attracted the interest of the Gold Coast, which obviously has the capacity to pay more than the other clubs, but does not have the go-home factor in its favour.
Boak finished sixth in Port's best and fairest last year, despite missing four games due to a knee injury. He picked up more than 30 possessions on four occasions and received five Brownlow votes in his first season as a full-time midfielder last year. He was placed in Port's top five for both hard and loose ball gets, for kicks and handballs and third in tackles.
Boak was drafted from the Geelong Falcons at pick No. 5 in the 2006 national draft, ahead of that year's best-performed player, Joel Selwood. Geelong rated Boak so highly that it would have picked him ahead of Selwood, whom the Cats famously snared at pick seven in that draft. He has played 54 games since debuting in 2007.
http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/port-star-in-high-demand-20100505-uaml.html
