IF TRAVIS Boak decides to leave Port Adelaide and take up an offer from Geelong, he should learn from the mess of Tom Scully and announce it publicly.

While such a move would be deemed controversial by many, traitorous even by some, Boak only has to reflect on the embarrassment suffered by Scully last year to know that coming clean is his only true option.

Scully chose to be economical with the truth in his saga which saw him leave, after just two years, Melbourne for GWS. Being publicly deceptive was his choice, and that was fair enough.

Just as it was fair for the footy public to judge him however it saw fit. Nearly all of it was adverse, and that will seemingly be stuck to him for a long time yet.

Hopefully, the AFL industry wouldn't condemn Boak should he do as NRL players do and declare future plans to play for a rival team, and hopefully his current coach Matthew Primus will continue to select him for the remainder of 2012.

AFL player contracts expire October 31. Boak is contracted to Port Adelaide until that time this year. If he was to decide to leave South Australia, he should be allowed to honour that deal.

In the eyes of some, Port would be entitled to ban Boak for a lack of loyalty. But let's not get too moralistic. Clubs, right now, are making decisions to cut or trade players. This loyalty thing works both ways.

Boak and Port Adelaide had been working to a late June timeframe on his dilemma to extend an association with Port, which started at the 2006 national draft, or to return to his Geelong-region roots.

That deadline has been pushed back, with Boak, a week after he spent time with family and old mates back home, more confused than ever as to where his future lies.

It's as tough a decision a footballer will face this year, and unusually, there is likely to be more money if he stayed.

Boak, currently sidelined due to foot surgery, is also being targeted by other clubs, including North Melbourne, but he has made it clear this is a matter of staying with Port or heading to Geelong.

Primus said early this week that Port would "sit down with [Boak] at some stage over the next month or so and see where it's at".

"We want to get this discussed soon, but if that's three days, four days, two days, two weeks, whatever it is … these things will take some time," Primus said.

Geelong has been refreshingly open about its desire to have Boak on its list. It has not publicly trumpeted its approaches, but to its credit, key officials have directly answered questions about the 23-year-old and stated a strong desire to add someone of his quality to the Cats' list.

Boak is a popular and respected player on Port's list. He has been strongly touted as a future captain.

He is also close to Geelong captain Joel Selwood and other Cats players. He feels pressure to be based in the Geelong area, permanently around a close family.

No one in football is stating as fact that Boak has made up his mind on whether to stay or go.

But there is a growing number whispering that he is more likely to be a Geelong player from next year.

If he does make that big decision, here's hoping we as an industry would be mature enough to deal with him making it public.

Twitter: @barrettdamian