CAPTAINING his 100th game and the thrill of being in a foreign country isn’t taking Travis Boak’s mind away from the job of bringing the AFL’s first premiership points home from China this weekend.

The Port skipper becomes the first man to captain the Power in 100 games on Sunday, and has been heavily involved in pre-match promotions of his club’s historic Round 8 game in Shanghai this week.

But while the hype and excitement of the game swirls this week, Boak says the Port playing group’s focus is on Sunday’s match.

“There’s certainly a lot of excitement but at the same, we know it’s for four points and it’s another game of AFL footy,” Boak said.

“The whole build-up to it, you’ve to enjoy and embrace, it’s almost like a big game or a final.”

Port’s form coming into the game has been solid – early wins against Sydney and Freo, big margins over Carlton and Brisbane and losses to flag favourites Adelaide and GWS, as well as last week’s disappointing performance against the Eagles.

 

Boak says the West Coast defeat was a motivator for the Power to string four quarters of consistent football together this weekend.

“There’s no doubt that last week was disappointing and we didn’t have the overall team performance that you’ve got to have against the best sides,” Boak said.

“Again, this week. We know we need all our guys performing.

“We think we’ve played some pretty good footy this season, and if we can hold that for four quarters, that puts us in the game against anyone.

“That’s what we’re looking to do this week.”

His thoughts were echoed by senior coach Ken Hinkley.

While much has been made about the unorthodox build-up to the game, the custom-fitted Jiangwan Stadium and athlete performance in different conditions, Hinkley says his players will hit top gear once the ball is first bounced on Sunday afternoon.

“One thing we forget sometimes is that once the boys get out there, the ball’s bounced, they’re just playing footy," Hinkley said.

“It doesn’t matter where they play it, and it’s a great opportunity to be in Shanghai to play it this time.

Similarly to his captain, Hinkley will coach his 100th game this weekend.

And his expectations for the team are still to push to the top of the ladder.

“We’ve been a more than competitive football team, but our challenge is to not just be a challenging football team, but one of the teams at the top of the ladder," Hinkley said.

“That’s something we haven’t been able to do yet.”

Port Adelaide plays Gold Coast at 1.15pm CZT/2.45pm ACST on Sunday 14 May at Jiangwan Stadium.

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