WHEN Travis Boak jumped on a plane from Melbourne in 2006 to start his AFL career at Port Adelaide, he had no idea what the scruffy-haired teenager next to him would become, nor the friendship they would develop.

Had the pair chatted at all during the one-hour flight, Boak might have got a hint. Instead, the pair sat in silence, conscious that their under 18 rivalry had been superseded and they were now teammates at the most successful senior football club in the country.

Boak was part of the Geelong Falcons side which was forced to watch on as the Oakleigh Chargers came from sixth on the ladder to win the premiership.

Among the Chargers outfit was a classy, if scrappy, young forward called Robert Gray, who at season’s end was named among the TAC team of the year alongside names like Matthew Kruezer, Shaun Grigg, Lachie Hansen and James Frawley.

It was Gray on the plane with Boak, after being claimed with pick 55 in the draft.

Boak had been the more fancied player and was expected to go to Geelong at pick seven before Port pounced and took him two picks earlier.

“We sat next to each other and didn’t speak a word to each other,” Boak remembered of that flight in 2006.

“We had played against each other in the Under 18s in the TAC Cup and his Oakleigh Chargers beat us and knocked us out of the finals so I wasn’t a big fan of Rob it’s fair to say, but now we’re best mates so it’s funny how things work out.”

Boak would go on to captain the club but at that point he was still digesting a move away from his mum and sisters back in Torquay.

As well as Boak and Gray, Port claimed Paul Stewart from Woodville-West Torrens with pick 23, Nathan Krakouer at 39, Justin Westhoff at 71, Boak’s Geelong Falcons teammate Ryan Williams at 83 and the electric David Rodan with the last live pick of the draft at 86.

Westhoff remembers a few days spent together by the draftees in a house at Grange in Adelaide’s beachside western suburbs, which like that plane ride were pretty quiet.

“We had a few quiet guys in that draft,” the recently retired big man recalled. “I can’t remember too many conversations in those early days.

“I can remember our group of first-year players staying together for a few days. We then joined in on training and put our heads down in that first year.

“It was only a few years later once we were playing a few games together that Robbie and I developed a friendship.”

Westhoff and Gray’s careers followed the same trajectory. Both now deemed to be draft steals, they got their respective AFL debuts during the same game – the Round 10, 2007 loss to Hawthorn – and each became fathers while racking up AFL games and club best and fairests. (Gray has three John Cahill Medals and Westhoff one).

Westhoff retired at the end of last season having amassed 280 games and 313 goals for the club and continues to marvel at Gray’s ability to find the ball and do magical things with it.

“We debuted together against Hawthorn. He did a few good things and it was pretty special to share that with him,” Westhoff said.

“We both have young families now too and it has been great to share those experiences with him as well.

“There was one game early in his career – and I’ve seen the highlight every time there is a video of his highlights made – where he dodged, weaved, ducked and just did what he has been known to do, kicked goals.

“Once I saw that I just knew he’d be a special player. He sees the game so well – noticing things and being able to do things that other people can’t even think of.”

Paul Stewart ended his AFL career after 101 games over 10 seasons but has similar memories of Gray’s quiet start to life in Adelaide.

“Robbie was a young shy guy kid from Melbourne, as was I a bit coming into an AFL team as a first yearer,” he remembered.

“But, from his first training session doing handball games, he turned heads straight away and you just knew he was one of those rare gifted footballers.”

But there was a moment which altered the course of Gray’s career and put him on track to become one of the greatest to have worn the Port Adelaide guernsey

In Round 4, 2012, Port Adelaide was trailing to Collingwood at Docklands with less than a minute to play when Gray landed awkwardly in a marking contest and hyperextended his right knee, suffering a ruptured ACL.

The horrific injury would rock the then 24-year-old, who had previously been blighted by soft tissue injuries.

A year on the sidelines provided the impetus for Gray to get himself ultra-fit and come back with a new-found appreciation of his body and the game he loved playing.

“That knee injury has been spoken about a lot across the course of his career and for good reason,” Stewart said.

“It was the turning point in not only his football but his life. Without speaking for Rob, I think during that period he learnt how much he loved the game and how not to take things for granted.

“It also showed him how fit he could get. He came back after that injury in incredible physical shape.”

While many have marvelled at Gray’s outrageous skills and game-winning talents since his return to full fitness, it is his resilience which has struck Boak most.

“When he kicked five in a quarter in a Showdown, that was just ridiculous – I mean who does that?,” Boak laughed.

“But, the biggest thing in his career is how he came back from that ACL. That turnaround has been unbelievable and a lot probably wouldn’t know what he went through with it all and the changes he had to make.

“To come back the way he has as one of the game’s greatest in my eyes is just incredible.”

Far from the quiet teens ignoring each other on the plane, Boak now categorises Gray as his “best mate” and after being side by side for Gray’s 249 AFL games, still lives in awe of his freakish ability.

“His smarts, especially around stoppage and certainly in the forward 50, just one-on-one work and he’s got incredible hands,” Boak said.

“He has this ridiculous ability to work through traffic and is incredibly intelligent when it comes to footy IQ.

“He is probably everyone at the footy club’s favourite player. We all love watching him play.”

For Westhoff, the quietest of the bunch and nicknamed “Humphrey” in a tribute to the former children’s television character, Gray’s quiet nature and authenticity made for a strong friendship.

“He is a very quiet, down to earth guy and I think that is part of why everyone loves him,” Westhoff said. “He’s such a humble guy, which I think comes out on the field.

“He’s really switched on with what he’s doing in life and has a family now. I know he loves his kids and spending time with his family.

“Robbie does everything to a high standard, whether that’s playing, the things he does in the business world or how he is as a friend, a parent or a teammate.”

They are sentiments echoed by Stewart, now cheering Gray on as a friend and fan.

“His personality, as anyone would agree with, is as humble as you get,” Stewart said

“Robbie is a keen US sports fan so any chance he gets to a sports bar in the off season to have some wings and maybe a beer, he will.

“In saying that, Robbie is one of the most prepared footballers I have seen. He knows exactly what he needs to do to get his body right for training and for games, which is clearly evident in the amount and the quality of games he has played.

“All I’d like to say is probably what every football fan would say. And that is thank you. Thank you for putting a show on every time you go out on the ground and doing it in a respectable and humble manner.”