TRAVIS BOAK has run the full lap. The former Port Adelaide captain is back on a wing, just as he was when his AFL story began at Alberton in 2007.
"I don't think I have played there since my first year; it's been 16 years since I was on the wing," says Boak whose second evolution - after the contentious move to half-forward five years ago - has kept him in the Port Adelaide midfield engine.
The main pistons of the Port Adelaide motor have become All-Australian and club champion Connor Rozee, vice-captain and Brownlow Medallist Ollie Wines, Rising Star nominee Zak Butters, No.1 draftee Jason Horne-Francis and the taskmaster Willem Drew. And there are Jackson Mead, Sam Powell-Pepper, Lachie Jones et al from the new generation of players to consider in this midfield evolution that is starting a new chapter at Port Adelaide.
Boak, 34, has not punched out the clock in the same way his former midfield partners Brad Ebert, Tom Rockliff and Robbie Gray have done in recent years. He has evolved again, successfully during the past three weeks in matches against Adelaide, Sydney and the Western Bulldogs.
Boak truly turned back time - particularly for those who have questioned his kicking power at goal - in the second term of the clash with the Western Bulldogs at the rain-soaked Adelaide Oval on Saturday night. Taking the ball at the 50-metre arc's apex with the boundary line near the old scoreboard at the Oval's northern end, Boak's long kick curled perfectly to register Port Adelaide's fourth goal to break a momentum swing favouring the Western Bulldogs. There is still power and control in those well-travelled legs.
Renowned for his elite fitness, Boak's move to the wing is a more natural adjustment than the experiment at half-forward.
And - while others classify the "midfield" as the zone that contests centre stoppages - Boak is quick to remind all that wingmen are part of the midfielders' band.
"It's still part of the midfield," says Boak who has changed the debate on whether Port Adelaide's wings belonged to Xavier Duursma, Miles Bergman and Kane Farrell.
"We have some guys going through our midfield rotations who are in very good nick.
"I am part of the midfield group and my role is on the wing.
"I am finding more space. And I probably don't get hit as much."
Port Adelaide senior coach Ken Hinkley emphasises Boak’s move to the wing "allows others to play inside" - the evolution of the Port Adelaide line-up must continue.
"And Trav is a great team player, so he will play wherever we need him," Hinkley said. "He will play inside, he will play forward and he will play on the wing as he has shown in the past couple of weeks. He has great run. He has great experience. He stays calm when we need that.
"The move to the wings comes with our needs; we are trying to grow and develop (the new group of midfielders). And Trav stays part of the team which is really important. When you have the experience he has, you can play him in different spots."
Boak has had little time to dust down the memories of his previous experiences as a wingman.
"The wing wasn't a reality until the Showdown (in round three). I was told just before the game that I was playing on the wing," said Boak who has chalked up 11, 19 and 15 touches in those three matches after a stalled campaign during the pre-season matches.
Boak's premiership-season campaign was delayed until Round 2 (v Collingwood at the MCG where he was the tactical substitute) by the battering his ribs took in a collision with West Coast defender Jeremy McGovern at a marking contest in a trial game in Perth.
On a wing.
"There is a lot of space on the wing ... you have to chase the ball a bit," says the man who has repeatedly bowed his back to win the contested football at ground level at stoppages in more than 300 AFL games.
"I am running more (kilometres) on the wing. Probably less short-burst stuff and more longer runs; it is a different role.
"We're about to find out what playing on the wing does for me. But it is still part of the midfield," repeats Boak.
Port Adelaide is now - at 3-2 - very much part of the conversation on this year's top-eight contenders a fortnight after the Showdown loss became a reason for some pundits to dismiss Hinkley's crew as a potential September finalist. Yet today Port Adelaide has three wins against three of last year's finalists - Brisbane, Sydney and the Western Bulldogs.
The manner of the strong finishes against Sydney and the Western Bulldogs - after the collapse to Adelaide in the last 20 minutes of Showdown LIII - changes perceptions on Port Adelaide as well.
"It was tough in the wet," noted Boak. "Around the contest it was a fight all night. And it is all about everyone playing their role (for the team to succeed)."
Boak's role is now as a midfielder.
ON REVIEW: Gather Round is to become part of South Australia's calendar for the next three years. And the success of the inaugural Gather Round in Adelaide at the weekend goes far beyond the concept's original theme of promoting Australian football by having all 18 AFL teams in the same city across one weekend.
It was the round that reminded AFL fans - after being locked at home watching the game on the big screen during the COVID pandemic years - how good it is to travel, how good it is to be at an AFL venue, how good the game-day experience is. These are great achievements.
It also changes perceptions on South Australia - just as the ground-breaking Shanghai games for AFL premiership points changed the image of the Port Adelaide Football Club. People saw Port Adelaide take on a new challenge in China and succeed. Same with South Australia in starting something new with Gather Round.
It will remain in Adelaide and the surrounds for three more years and then the original concept - as noted by Brownlow Medallist James Bartel - probably does need to kick in: "What is the 'goal' of Gather Round? If it's to increase awareness about the game and introduce it to new people, then you have to move it around. If you're truly investing in NSW, well then the next one goes there."
As North Melbourne learned during the 1980s as the pioneers of Friday Night Football, you don't get to keep anything forever in the AFL. Well, almost ....
