Travis Boak - Over rated by our supporters?

[Windy Cindy]

Boak is the quintessential "great clubman", with all the positives and negatives associated with that phrase.

Boak at his best was in my opinion something of a poor man's Greg Williams, which is intended as a compliment, not an insult.

Unfortunately his skills tended to let him down at inopportune times and he just couldn't be relied on to deliver in the critical moments.

Sadly, my enduring memories of him will be in two PFs ten years apart. Missing a straighforward shot for goal in first quarter of the 2014 PF when we had all the momentum and had a real chance to put Hawthorn to the sword early, as we had done to Richmond two weeks prior. And then in 2024 gifting Sydney their first goal to set them on their way just when the spectre of another slow start and scoreless first quarter against Port was starting to loom large for them.

It's sad that he's played for Port in an unsuccesful era and he'll end his career without a premiership but in the cold light of day I don't think it's unfair to point out the part he himself played in making it an unsuccesful era.

If I was selecting an all time team of the best "good blokes" to play for Port in the AFL era he'd probably be the first one picked but if I'm picking a best 22 to try and win a premiership, to deliver on the big stage, he's not in it - there are just too many midfield types we've had that were better than him in terms of skill and poise under pressure.

Finally, if I were a new coach coming in now, I would be telling Trav to retire. I'd tell him he'll always have an honoured place at Port and be welcome at the club, but I wouldn't be offering him any official role or ongoing employment. I think it's time to make a clean break with the past and with those associated with the unsuccesful era. It's time to move on and try to build a new culture of success without the baggage of past failure and Trav is unfortunately part of that baggage.

errrr no. greg williams was a star, elite hands, made things happen

as you say trav is a good clubman whos played 350 games.

trav needs to stop being selfish and make the call that the club is too pissweak to make.

 

[Windy Cindy]

James was a very talented and clever midfielder but you're remembering 1 finals series. If he'd played like that all the time he'd have a couple of AA guernseys and a best and fairest.

I agree fully that the Brownlow isn't a perfect metric, but he is a midfielder, and he managed just 2 Brownlow votes in 2004 in a season where we won 17 games. He came 8th in our B&F. Really good, but better than someone with 3 All Australian guernseys?

james was a bloke who didnt need 30 touches a game, he was a one grabber and his skills were his main weapon.

degenerative knee? curtailed him.

james was a seriously underrated player.

 

[MrPlow]

I’ve always liked Boak but I think over time he’s lost the killer instinct (ie Hinkley-fied)

In those clutch mental moments, how much do you really, really want it if by his own words his a human first and a footballer second. He plays like he knows it’s all just a game, but that wasn’t always the case

 

[Willsy10]

obviously there is a clear 3 in Tredrea, Gray and Wanganeen and Boak is a rung below but probably at the front of that conversation. But his performance on Friday was shithouse, and very sad to see because prior to that i thought he would definitely go around again but that performance really stood out. He got a lot of the ball still but his mistakes were severely costly.

 

[1954]

Who cares about longevity it's like saying he's better than Kouta because he's fittery for longery.

Roger James at his peak was far better than Travis at any point in his career I couldn't care less about the midfield stat pad medal.

Roger James skill level was severely under rated, eg regardless of Brownlow votes accumulated there is no way Boak could have shown the ball to peak Nathan Buckley, dodged around him, and then calmly slotted a 40 metre goal.

Even if Boaky got the dodging bit right (highly unlikely), the pill would have either hit a defender lace out, or just as likely missed everything except possibly the left hand point post.

 

[Macca19]

Can't recall Roger James ever finishing 2nd in the Brownlow?

Roger James at his peak was better than current day Boak, obviously. But Roger James was retired by 30. That's not current day Travis Boak, that's Travis Boak 6 years ago.

Theres a fair bit of recency bias going on i reckon. Boak at his peak was only behind Gray as our best afl midfielder and his 2013 was only behind Treds as the best captains year in our afl era

 

[Schulzenfest]

I think I would take Broges over Paddy in a final. Lade was better than Paddy.

I didn't say anything about Lade. Lade was a star. Brogan was a solid hard working trier in the right place at the right time.

Theres a fair bit of recency bias going on i reckon. Boak at his peak was only behind Gray as our best afl midfielder and his 2013 was only behind Treds as the best captains year in our afl era

Yeah, this was the point I was making by pointing out their ages. Comparing current day Boak to peak Roger James is outrageously unfair, James was probably potting around some ammos league at 110kg at the same point of his career that Boak is at now. Nobody would have ever been saying Boak was behind Roger James six or seven years ago, but that's the fair comparison.

 

[Peninsula Boy]

Jimmy, I've said a few sober words on Boak and he is defended strongly on here.

I think I called him a very good player and not a great player based on the fact that he doesn't have any real defining footballing moments of winning and clutch especially in finals and that started the avalanche.

Boak can be difficult to rate because he has some very good attributes but some terrible ones as well.

 

[Willsy10]

Almost a bit of Ricky Ponting/Lleyton Hewitt in that Boak has gone on for so long past his prime that people forget how good he was in his prime. Boak was a very good player. Multiple AA, multiple BnF's and high in the Brownlow multiple times. Roger James

Roger James

Age

49

Ht

177cm

Wt

89kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

16.9

4star

K

10.1

4star

HB

6.9

4star

M

3.7

4star

T

1.8

4star

No current season stats available

D

9.2

3star

K

5.2

2star

HB

4.0

3star

M

2.0

3star

T

0.6

3star

was highly skillful and was instrumental in 2004 but he didn't get close to reaching those heights.

 

[Bevoman]

Almost a bit of Ricky Ponting/Lleyton Hewitt in that Boak has gone on for so long past his prime that people forget how good he was in his prime. Boak was a very good player. Multiple AA, multiple BnF's and high in the Brownlow multiple times. Roger James was highly skillful and was instrumental in 2004 but he didn't get close to reaching those heights.

Pies may grab both Davis & Boak where the fitness fanactic would be an ideal Dev coach

 

[Papa G]

Almost a bit of Ricky Ponting/Lleyton Hewitt in that Boak has gone on for so long past his prime that people forget how good he was in his prime. Boak was a very good player. Multiple AA, multiple BnF's and high in the Brownlow multiple times. Roger James was highly skillful and was instrumental in 2004 but he didn't get close to reaching those heights.

Lol. Ponting is all time great and a winner. Lley Lley for all his faults and general fugwittery won 2 Grand Slams. Boak hasn't won anything and has never rose to the occassion despite multiple opportunities.

 

[Willsy10]

Lol. Ponting is all time great and a winner. Lley Lley for all his faults and general fugwittery won 2 Grand Slams. Boak hasn't won anything and has never rose to the occassion despite multiple opportunities.

I wasn't comparing their individual accolades, i was comparing the fact that Ponting and Hewitt both battled on for years past their primes and it got to the point with both of them that people actually started to forget how good they once were.

Ponting and Hewitt achieved more than any AFL player, as they both reached the best in a world sport.

 

[El_Scorcho]

Jimmy, I've said a few sober words on Boak and he is defended strongly on here.

I think I called him a very good player and not a great player based on the fact that he doesn't have any real defining footballing moments of winning and clutch especially in finals and that started the avalanche.

Boak can be difficult to rate because he has some very good attributes but some terrible ones as well.

You've got a short memory.

Boak had 34 touches and 12 clearances in the 2014 Elimination Final, head and shoulders the best player on the ground. He was the best player on the ground in the prelim against Hawthorn as well. 32 touches and 8 clearances against Geelong in the 2021 QF. The idea that he's an anonymous finals player is revisionist poppycock.

He was the driving force behind our famous comeback win in Showdown 35, despite the Monfries bounce and Chad's goals getting the plaudits.

Not every player is Robbie Gray kicking impossible goals. Especially with centre square mids, great play can be just driving your team forward at every stoppage and Boak has spent most of his career as an elite clearance mid with elite running to get involved on the outside as well. If Hinkley hadn't moved him to that dumb isolated half forward position during his prime, he'd probably have another couple of AA guernseys.

If we are going to rate every modern era player's individual purely by the fact that they didn't win a lot of finals, fine, but Robbie Gray seems to skate through without the same criticisms despite being in exactly the same position.

 

[Peninsula Boy]

You've got a short memory.

Boak had 34 touches and 12 clearances in the 2014 Elimination Final, head and shoulders the best player on the ground. He was the best player on the ground in the prelim against Hawthorn as well. 32 touches and 8 clearances against Geelong in the 2021 QF. The idea that he's an anonymous finals player is revisionist poppycock.

He was the driving force behind our famous comeback win in Showdown 35, despite the Monfries bounce and Chad's goals getting the plaudits.

Not every player is Robbie Gray kicking impossible goals. Especially with centre square mids, great play can be just driving your team forward at every stoppage and Boak has spent most of his career as an elite clearance mid with elite running to get involved on the outside as well. If Hinkley hadn't moved him to that dumb isolated half forward position during his prime, he'd probably have another couple of AA guernseys.

If we are going to rate every modern era player's individual purely by the fact that they didn't win a lot of finals, fine, but Robbie Gray seems to skate through without the same criticisms despite being in exactly the same position.

Yeah, yeah, very good player.

I'm sure he has a couple of good games in early finals but from the prelim on, it's pretty much chokeville.

 

[El_Scorcho]

Yeah, yeah, very good player.

I'm sure he has a couple of good games in early finals but from the prelim on, it's pretty much chokeville.

I assume you apply the same to Robbie then? He also can't be a top 5 AFL era player because of the disgusting finals record?

 

[Chrizzt]

Yeah, yeah, very good player.

I'm sure he has a couple of good games in early finals but from the prelim on, it's pretty much chokeville.

32 touches and 10 score involvements in the 2021 QF. Even his last couple of finals have been ok considering he's been playing as a wing, not a starting centre square mid.

Again, as Scorch calls out, Robbie kicked 1.4 combined across his last 4 finals appearances - despite being played almost exclusively forward in those games.

 

[Powerade 08]

haha. the lunatics are turning on Gray now

 

[El_Scorcho]

haha. the lunatics are turning on Gray now

Nobody's turning on Gray, i'm arguing that people saying Travis never had big finals performances is both false, and an argument that is never applied to Robbie (as he's widely heralded as a top 2 AFL era player for us) despite having the same finals record.

 

[Peninsula Boy]

Gray won the Coaches Award and was a game winner.

You're not going to turn my on to Boak. Very good player. That's it.

Wines will get a similar treatment unless he pipes up.

 

[El_Scorcho]

Gray won the Coaches Award and was a game winner.

You're not going to turn my on to Boak. Very good player. That's it.

Wines will get a similar treatment unless he pipes up.

(I'm not for a second questioning the legacy of Robbie Gray, just highlighting the unfair arguments used against Boak)

Which big important games did Gray win for us? Which finals? I'd argue he was brilliant in the Freo semi win in 2014, but he didn't have another notable finals game. Shouldn't that count against him, given it's the main thrust of your argument as to why Boak can't be top rung?

Boak was BOG in 3 finals matches.

You can argue that Boak didn't step up in the big moments, but you have to apply that argument fairly. If your standard is winning big finals matches, then Boak has a better resume than Gray.

 

[Powerade 08]

How does this happen to somebody?

 

[Peninsula Boy]

(I'm not for a second questioning the legacy of Robbie Gray, just highlighting the unfair arguments used against Boak)

Which big important games did Gray win for us? Which finals? I'd argue he was brilliant in the Freo semi win in 2014, but he didn't have another notable finals game. Shouldn't that count against him, given it's the main thrust of your argument as to why Boak can't be top rung?

Boak was BOG in 3 finals matches.

You can argue that Boak didn't step up in the big moments, but you have to apply that argument fairly. If your standard is winning big finals matches, then Boak has a better resume than Gray.

The finals is just one, I repeat, one major part of it but not all of it.

Generally when I am talking about finals, yes, 100% its about stepping up and making big plays and not choking.

You take Boak's finals games and I'll take 5 minutes of Stewie Dew in the 2008 Grand Final.

If you want to downgrade Gray, go for it.

Yay, off season!!!!!!

 

[FishingRick04]

End of the day no matter how great or ungreat people think they are, questions will appear because of lack of GF. It’s unfortunate, time most likely will remove that question mark, same as Robert Harvey, who was better than both.

 

[bomberclifford]

Robbie Gray

9

Robbie Gray

Age

36

Ht

183cm

Wt

84kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

19.9

5star

K

9.8

4star

HB

10.1

5star

M

3.5

4star

T

3.2

5star

G

1.4

5star

D

13.3

3star

K

6.0

2star

HB

7.3

4star

M

2.4

3star

T

2.6

4star

G

0.6

4star

D

10.4

3star

K

6.6

3star

HB

3.8

3star

M

3.6

4star

T

1.4

4star

G

1.4

5star

was good but he's no Martin Leslie.

 

[klem22]

Boak has been good for this club but it is his time to walk and allow space for youth to come through. Anything less than that would be a selfish act.
Ditto for for Dixon.
Ditto for Hinkley.
These guys are now blocking the attempt at success that this club could potentially gain.
Will they do it I'm not sure atm but if they don't it would be woeful decisions on their behalf.