PORT Adelaide premiership player Darryl Wakelin says the Power have a core of players capable of pushing for a flag.

On Thursday, star onballer Travis Boak joined a growing list of talented youngsters to have re-signed with the club in 2012, including Robbie Gray, Aaron Young, Jasper Pittard, Hamish Hartlett, Matthew Broadbent, Paul Stewart and Jarrad Redden.

Wakelin, a former Port Adelaide board member, told AFL.com.au that Boak's commitment would give the Power's younger players a huge amount of confidence.
 
"Boaky's been around for five years now, so for the real young kids who are in their first or second season it's a bit of a relief and a huge positive to think 'Great, one of our senior A-graders is sticking around'," he said.

Wakelin insisted that the Power list now was the first since the stirrings that led to the 2004 premiership to feature a core group of players capable of achieving big things.
 
"We only need to go back to the Carlton game (round 10) when Hartlett was up and about, (Chad) Wingard was up and about, Brad Ebert, Broadbent, Boak - and  then you had Dom (Cassisi) and Kane (Cornes) playing their roles, you had (Danyle) Pearce going through there, and that's without Robbie Gray in the side," he said.
 
"It's probably the first core group of top draft picks we've had on our list since the likes of (Warren) Tredrea, Stuart Dew, guys like that - that core group of the '04 premiership."

History suggests that when big-name players forgo rival offers to stay at their club, consistent wins are often just around the corner.

Out-of-contract Boak was heavily sought-after by a number of Victorian clubs, including Geelong and North Melbourne, but chose to stick with the Power.
 
Fremantle's Matthew Pavlich and Hawthorn's Luke Hodge both chose to turn down offers from opposition clubs earlier in their careers. In Hodge's case, he was rewarded with ultimate success, while for Pavlich, it's foreseeable in the near future.
 
Pavlich has toiled at Fremantle for his entire career and, while a flag has eluded him, given Freo's recent form and Ross Lyon at the helm, the side looks on the cusp of becoming a genuine threat.
 
When Hodge re-signed with the Hawks in 2004 he committed to a club in serious trouble. The coach had been sacked, there was no chief executive and they hadn't made the finals since '01.
 
He penned a two-year deal and by the time he signed another with the Hawks in 2007, the side had a group that had played a lot of footy together and would go on to win the flag the following year.
 
Wakelin knows first hand how much the signing of a star player can lift a side.
 
He spoke of the relief he felt at the beginning of his AFL career with St Kilda when superstar Saint Stewart Loewe ignored a significant offer to join Fremantle.
 
The 261-gamer said that with better support and management St Kilda could have made more of its strong list, but the club still won the Ansett Cup in 1996, reached the Grand Final in '97 and made the finals in '98.
 
"Just before I came over (to St Kilda), Stewart Loewe had a lot of interest from Fremantle and there was a fair chance he was going to be leaving.
 
"That was '94, so they made a big play for him then and an even bigger play for him at the end of their first season in '95 … I just remember at the time it being such a relief that we were going to keep one of our star players.
 
"That genuinely gave a young kid like me a lot of confidence."
 
Wakelin pointed to the success of Geelong as proof that good sides were resilient and comprised of individuals who had played a lot of football together.
 
Harry Thring is a reporter for AFL Media. Follow him on Twitter: @AFL_Harry.