Toast The Renaissance of Travis Boak

[Dav]

It's been an up and down season but one constant has been the great form of Travis Boak.

In the first 4 rounds, he's averaged 34 disposals, 6 marks, 6 tackles, 6 inside 50s and 500 metres gained. He's once again become our most important and most damaging midfielder and if he keep up this form he'll be a very likely chance for his 3rd All-Australian berth.

Whether it be the change of position or relinquishing the captaincy, we've got peak Travis Boak back at the club. And with Wines injured then underperforming, and Jonas not in the best form either, Boak has become our on-field leader by example. I've seen countless people on Facebook saying 'Boak is still the captain' and it certainly seems that way. Maybe Eddie McGuire wasn't getting it wrong after all?

 

[Kingfish73]

Credit where credit due. In career best form. He has been fantastic and best of all consistent. Unfortunately only he and Rocky have in our midfield...

 

[Powerstufff]

..... I've seen countless people on Facebook saying 'Boak is still the captain' and it certainly seems that way. ....

It's a pervasive idea that Boaky is still our leader, even if not still our captain. When PAFC imagery shows in the background in various footy media he often still features. For me he is clearly our on-field leader. It's not just the impressive stats it's the way he fights out every minute of the game. And he brings other players into passages of play like great leaders do.

 

[tangolikelama]

Shame we wasted him for years.. genuine gun. You won't see many better runners than Travis.

 

[JUSTWORK]

Still our best leader, great return to form.

Close to career best form ! Who’d of though you’d play a 2 time AA Midfeilder in the Midfeild.

Great move by Schofield to put Boaky back where he belongs and shame Hinkley wasted him for so many years across half forward.

 

[TeeKray]

It's not all positional with Travis. He's done a lot of work on his mind and body to get back to playing this sort of football. Credit to him, I like most thought his best football was well and truly behind him. He's a great role model for all of our younger players.

 

[Power Raid]

Shame we wasted him for years.. genuine gun. You won't see many better runners than Travis.

and yet we pushed him out of the middle for Wines who simply didn't have the engine to run 4 quarters in both directions.

Compounding the issue, we had Polec and Wingard who only wanted to run one way and rgray who didn't have the pace to pile on the defensive pressure.

Hopefully Ken learns from his mistake.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

2016-18 years for Boak - best summed up by the Oils.

The hardest years, the darkest years, the roarin' years, the fallen years
These should not be forgotten years
The hardest yrs, the wildest years, the desperate and divided years
We will remember, these should not be forgotten years

I hope Boak reminds our coaches about these fallen years, wasted years, and to never repeat them until he is playing so poorly he will be dropped.

 

[Ford Fairlane]

Time to pay tribute again to Boaky. Even the Fox commentators had the discussion about whether he was in career best form so late in his career. He has been astonishing this year. His workrate and reading of the play and relentless will to win have been inspirational this season.

Watching him up close on Sunday, his acceleration away from contests was eye-catching. Especially late in the game when others were wilting he just powered away with the ball and set up play. His fitness levels must be sky high and it looks like he has learned something about running from his specialised fitness training over the past few years.

Hinkley praised him in his press conference too.

“He was great wasn’t he,” Hinkley said.
“It was a game that just needed someone to continually keep turning up and work really hard, and Trav just did that all day.
“He just keeps putting himself in those spots through pure work-rate.
“He still just wants to be a great player in this competition and it’s a fantastic start to the season.”

https://www.portadelaidefc.com.au/news/2019-05-19/hinkley-lauds-strong-team-performance

 

[TeeKray]

The career best form thing is almost undeniable now. Full credit to Trav.

 

[Macca19]

I love him. I actually love him.

 

[PJ Power]

Hinkley actually summed his game up well. He said that the match needed someone to keep turning up to the contest, and that is what Boak did.

At the beginning of the second quarter, Boak got two very important contested possessions within about 2 minutes and it got the momentum going our way a bit. Then for about 10 minutes or so, he didn't seem to feature around any of the stoppages. I remember this, because it was noticeable that during that time Gold Coast seemed to get on top a bit in that area. Then Boak really got going again late in the second and very much in the last half.

In 2015, he began to fumble a helluvalot when played in the centre-square. This year, his hands have been super clean and it has stood out a mile in the wet conditions we have played in especially. He's had a magnificent season.

 

[Ford Fairlane]

Hinkley actually summed his game up well. He said that the match needed someone to keep turning up to the contest, and that is what Boak did.

At the beginning of the second quarter, Boak got two very important contested possessions within about 2 minutes and it got the momentum going our way a bit. Then for about 10 minutes or so, he didn't seem to feature around any of the stoppages. I remember this, because it was noticeable that during that time Gold Coast seemed to get on top a bit in that area. Then Boak really got going again late in the second and very much in the last half.

In 2015, he began to fumble a helluvalot when played in the centre-square. This year, his hands have been super clean and it has stood out a mile in the wet conditions we have played in especially. He's had a magnificent season.

You would find this article on Boak's training with Nam Baldwin interesting. Not just about body fitness but mind fitness and overall performance enhancement.

Nam Baldwin is a coach unlike any other. That’s a huge statement to make from a publication that lives and breathes through working with unique trainers, specialized experts, and pioneers in the health and fitness industry. But it’s one that we’re happy to back ourselves on in this case.

He’s a self-described highly qualified emotional and stress management specialist, mentor and motivational life coach. His approach to stress management in sport has seen Baldwin work with World Champions including Mick Fanning, Steph Gilmore, Pat Rafter and other Olympic Gold Medalists. His client base is also most likely made up of future medalists thanks to his recent appointment by the Australian Surfing Olympic Team as their Elite Performance Specialist.

“There’s day’s I don’t even want to go to the club, or go kick a footy,” explains Boak on why he finds coming to train with Nam so appealing. Fanning echoes his sentiments, explaining how on some days he hates surfing, and finds training with Baldwin a necessary escape.

Watching Baldwin in action with his athletes, it’s clear that his priority in training is cognitive response, coaching elite athletes on the power of blocking out external stresses and focusing on the task at hand.

https://www.menshealth.com.au/the-training-world-champions-turn-to-and-why-you-need-to-as-well

 

[Willsy10]

I never lost faith in Boak. Even in the 2016-18 years he still was one of those players that gave it is all in every match even though his form wasn't great and he was played out of position. there was plenty of talk last year about dropping him, which was way too premature. Even his down seasons saw him finish 5th, 9th and 9th in the best and fairest count.

I picked him to win this years John Cahill medal and at this stage he should be winning it fairly comfortably ahead of Houston and Rockliff.

would have to be a lock for All Australian up to this point of the season.

 

[Marmozet]

It is rather nice to have the Travis Boak we know and love back before he got completely Hinkley’d.

 

[LFC2010]

into $21 for the Brownlow.

averaging 32 disposals almost 50% of them contested
has to be All Australia atm.

 

[Macca19]

into $21 for the Brownlow.

averaging 32 disposals almost 50% of them contested
has to be All Australia atm.

He'd be AA Captain if it was called right now.

 

[Us against the rest]

He will always be one of those players remembered for his commitment to the PAFC. Travis is having a fantastic year and is in the best shape ever, it's credit to him to striving to be the best he can.

 

[ozph1870]

Yeah give him the John Cahill medal now, so far in front it would only be a flawed system that would have anyone close to him..

.. The same flawed system that allowed a tagger to be in the top few every year, just because he did his job..

 

[Kiss from a Rozee]

Boak fro Brownlow

 

[tribey]

He'd be AA Captain if it was called right now.

Who’s on the current panel?

If history’s anything to go by, Dustin Martin would’ve gone past him on the strength of his one excellent game on the big stoige this week.

 

[TeeKray]

Who’s on the current panel?

If history’s anything to go by, Dustin Martin would’ve gone past him on the strength of his one excellent game on the big stoige this week.

Tredders is on the panel as an SA representative. It rarely helps us get those fringe selections (eg Stewart v Jonas last year) but I feel like it does help us to get those absolute rolled gold obvious ones picked (eg Boak this year).

 

[tribey]

Tredders is on the panel as an SA representative. It rarely helps us get those fringe selections (eg Stewart v Jonas last year) but I feel like it does help us to get those absolute rolled gold obvious ones picked (eg Boak this year).

He had Sam Gray as his best on the radio, so fingers crossed

 

[Enviable Tradition]

He'd be AA Captain if it was called right now.

He can wear the Australian #1

On SM-G960F using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

He'd be AA Captain if it was called right now.

Cripps (C) Bontempelli (VC) and Pendlebury (C) would get the gig before Boak if an all Oz team was picked now.