"It's been a great journey and I've been very fortunate to play as many games as I have," Wakelin said before the Power trained at AAMI Stadium on Wednesday.
"I was lucky enough to play with Port Adelaide (Magpies) as a junior and I always wanted to come back and get the opportunity. I probably envied the boys who were playing here with the Power and to get the opportunity to come back has been a huge thrill."
Wakelin, 30, who will be playing his 85th match for Port after 115 with St Kilda from 1995-2000, confirmed he would continue on next season.
"I'll play again," he said. "I've been pretty happy with my last half of this year. You want to play football as long as you can. I'm looking forward to next year.
"I enjoy my footy as much as I did in my first year over in Melbourne. That's rewarding for me and I love the environment in which I'm playing."
Asked how much he had improved over the years, Wakelin said: "I played some good football at St Kilda, some OK football, but I probably lacked a little bit of consistency.
"It all comes back to the quality of the side you're playing in that allows you to play the good football that you do. I've been lucky enough that we've had some quality players and quality depth at Port Adelaide in my time here, so that's made my job easier."
On Port being due to win a qualifying final after losing its past two - to Collingwood in 2002 and Sydney last season (both at AAMI Stadium) - Wakelin said: "There's no denying that and we can't run away from that. We've got to win at the weekend. We're genuinely excited about the game. We feel among the group we've matured over the last year.
"We're a hell of a lot better group than we were last year - just the communication among the team and the type of players who have come on in that middle-type group has been very positive.
"It's very hard to explain the dynamics of the group and how we think we're going. The (home-and-away-season) results speak for themselves.
"We have a belief in the group. We want to do well as a group. We want to show to ourselves, more than anything, we're a quality side."
Wakelin described Geelong as 'a very good side all over the ground' and added: "They've got some quality forwards and everyone's going to have to be on their game on Sunday. You look at (Kent) Kingsley, (Ben) Graham - and (Gary) Ablett moves through there and (Paul) Chapman. It's a 50-50 game and let's roll the dice."
Wakelin's identical twin brother, Shane, a Collingwood defender, will be at AAMI Stadium on Sunday, as will their parents, originally from Kimba on South Australia's west coast and now living at Roxby Downs in the north of SA.
