AFTER a debut season, which included a Grand Final appearance and a NAB Rising Star nomination, the only thing worrying Travis Boak at Moana Beach this week was a lack of waves.

The 19-year-old joined his first and second-year teammates down south for a two-day camp, which focussed on team bonding and leadership; and also served as a welcome break from the daily grind of pre-season.

Boak started 2007 in the Glenelg reserves, but by round 12 had forced his way into the Power line-up, where he remained for the rest of the season.

The dashing midfielder showed fans why he was snapped up with pick five in the 2007 NAB AFL Draft, gathering 20 or more possessions on three separate occasions.

Boak is one of a handful of Port Adelaide players, including Justin Westhoff, Robbie Gray and Nathan Krakouer, who are looking forward to their second season in the AFL.

Boak and company served their new club well in 2007 and the Power are confident the quartet won’t be struck down by a second-year slump in 2008.

“The ‘second-year blues’ are a bit of a myth, I think, and people can talk themselves into it,” development manager Daniel Healy said.

“I think our second-year boys have all got really good heads on their shoulders. They are in an environment where they can’t not learn.”

“They have some fantastic assistant coaches, Choco [Mark Williams] himself is a great teacher, and the place is just buzzing at the moment with excitement, so I can’t see it being an issue at all.”

Boak said he wasn’t feeling any pressure to back-up his breakout season.

“I haven’t really thought about it [the second-year blues] at all and I’m just looking forward to this year,” he said.

“Obviously last year was a good start and I’m looking forward to building on that. So far I’ve had a pretty good pre-season and I’m just looking forward to round one.”

Boak, who wears the No.10 guernsey formerly owned by ball-magnet Josh Francou, worked closely with mentor and All-Australian Kane Cornes last season.

The combination of Cornes’ guidance and first-hand AFL experience inspired the Victorian to improve his fitness base over the pre-season.

“My fitness last year was slowly building up and this year I really want to become a predominant midfielder and play a bit more in the middle,” Boak said.

“I really want to build up my fitness base a lot more and try and run out games.”

Boak, who experienced the highs of his AFL debut and a preliminary win and also the low of a Grand Final loss, is keen to pass on his experiences to the Power’s newest arrivals.

Port Adelaide's 2007 debutants have sat down together “a couple of times” to discuss the season ahead and also to work out the best way to help their younger teammates settle in the AFL.

“I was fortunate enough to play a few games last year, along with Krak [Krakouer] Westy [Westhoff] and Robbie [Gray], so we’ve tried to build our knowledge and pass it on to the younger blokes. I guess it is sort of a leadership role.”

“I’ve kind of helped the younger guys out in terms of telling them what to expect. I was pretty nervous before my first game and even before that with the build up surrounded with starting off in the seconds at Glenelg.”

“I’ve just told them basically not to get too worried about it all. We’re here to play footy, so just go out and enjoy it.”

Boak, who hails from the coastal town of Torquay, was relishing the opportunity to catch some sun and surf during the Power pups’ break from training.

The group hit the beach for some surf life saving training, but with no waves in sight they quickly took up another of Boak’s great passions - cricket.

“We went out surfing yesterday and the waves were about a foot, so it wasn’t too good coming from Torquay,” Boak said.

“But coming down here is just great. It's full on during the pre-season and especially for the first and second-year blokes because we haven’t really done too much of this before.”

“Breaking training up a bit makes you enjoy it a lot more and when we get back we’ll be straight into it again.”