DESPITE living and working together, Port Adelaide captain Travis Boak has revealed the only time he has been angry with young midfielder Sam Powell-Pepper is after he broke team rules in a late-night incident.

Powell-Pepper was banned for three games by the AFL on top of a one-game ban handed down by Port’s leadership group after the incident in April.

In a revealing interview with Fox Footy’s On the Mark program on Wednesday night, Boak explained his disappointment with his housemate.

“When we first heard about the incident we met as a leadership group straight away,” he said.

“I was the first person to speak to him and it was the first time I’ve really been angry at (him), I reckon, and I was pretty angry at the time.

“It was based around him being out late and he obviously broke our team rule and I said you’re going to miss a game of footy for it.

“I think what I’ve seen is what a good person he has been before that but now that he’s learned something and turned it into incredible form and growth as a person, it’s huge.”

Boak was asked about whether he considered removing himself from the disciplinary process within the club because of their close relationship but the skipper said that thought had never crossed his mind.

“The relationship we have, he understood that was the decision that I had to make as captain, that was going to come from me and no one else,” he said.

“From there, it was about us as friends and then helping him as a friend, not only a captain." 

Powell-Pepper admitted he felt he had let Boak down with his behaviour.

He revealed the incident was a wake-up call, making him realise just being drafted to play AFL was not enough.

“The decisions I was making wasn’t at the professional level that I was hoping to be, and as a teammate and a mate to Trav - I feel like I let him down because it wasn’t the right thing to do,” the 20-year-old said.

“I was living in the same house as him and I put him under pressure as well.

“I knew straight away that I let him down and the team as well, so I was expecting a fairly good grilling, but I knew that we would talk about what happened and talk about life and move on from there.

“Before that, I was just floating through the motions and taking things as they came - it was a bit of a wake-up call.”

The pair outlined their unique relationship based on common experiences as young people with Boak losing his father to cancer as a teenager and Powell-Pepper moving from home to home away from his parents.

For Boak, the connection was instant from when Powell-Pepper was drafted to the club at the end of 2016.

“Me and Pepp got along straight away as soon as he came over,” he said.

“I had a tough up-bringing, I had some stuff I went through as well and I think we just connected straight away.

“I think you instantly have this bond if you go through similar things in life, but we have probably opened up to each other about what’s been challenging.

“I just love the caring, loving person that he is - the first time he met mum, she came here and he just went up to her straight away and gave her a big hug, my sister was the same, my cousins, my aunty - I just love that in a person.

“I instantly know that he’s going to be a great person, a great role model for so many people.”

A West Australian native, Powell-Pepper praised his grandmother for being a positive influence in his life.

He said his upbringing was tough, surrounded by drugs and alcohol, and going from house to house and school to school.

But the talented contested ball and tackling youngster promised himself he would break the cycle.

“Ever since I was young, that was my dream, I just wanted to play AFL,” Powell-Pepper said.

“People used to say growing up that footy wasn’t going to save you, and I just knew since then that I wanted to prove people wrong and live my dream.

“My nan was also a very big part of who I am today.

“Through those tough times she was the one I would always go to, and she wouldn’t tell anyone but she would say to me that I was her favourite.

“There was a time there that me, my brother and sister just needed a different place to stay.

She took me and my little brother in and taught us quite a few things… At my nan’s house, me and my brother had a routine, and I thank her a lot for bringing me in then.

“She’s like a diamond in the rough - she can have her little rants and stuff and people might not like her but I love her very much.”

While he admits he only sees his parents every few months, he tries to speak with them more frequently.

“There are still a fair few bumps in the road but that’s just the way their life has been even before I was born,” he said.

“It’s fairly hard to get out of that cycle but now that I’ve made it into the AFL, I feel like I can help in some way.

“Whenever I have my time in Perth, I bring them together and they wouldn’t have been talking for months, but when I come over, we make a day out of it and have a bit of fun.

“No one graduated high school in my family, so that was one of the first things I wanted to do. I did that, so I felt like I broke the cycle there, and even better I made the AFL.

“It wasn’t the best up-bringing but I love my mum and my dad with all of my heart.”

For Boak, Powell-Pepper is like “the brother I never had” despite him not contributing in the kitchen because of a lack of culinary skills.

And, it would seem the feeling is mutual with the younger man suggesting he was not thinking about returning to Western Australia because of how comfortable he was in Adelaide.

“I’m just loving it here at the moment, it’s just like a family,” Powell-Pepper said.

“I’ve always gone from home to home and you always look for that good brother, like (someone) to call my brother and Trav’s one of my brothers.”

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