Port Adelaide are confident of repelling AFL rivals who are circling key onballer Travis Boak.

Boak, considered Port’s best player, falls out of contract at season’s end but coach Matthew Primus is hopeful of retaining the 23-year-old from suitors in his home state of Victoria.

Port’s football operations manager Peter Rohde is in “constant discussions” with Boak’s management, Primus said on Friday.

“These things do take some time but we’re hoping we’ll get Travis’ signature sooner rather than later,” Primus told reporters.

“Contract negotiations take time to work through and Travis is an important player for us.”

Boak has long been considered a target of Geelong, where he played under 18s football, with Primus conceding until Port had his signature, there was “some kind of doubts”.

“You look at any player – look at what Collingwood are talking about with (Travis) Cloke – but we’re pretty confident we’ll be able to keep Travis,” Primus said.

“He’s very happy here.

“He’s not happy with how he’s developing, but he’s certainly happy with being here at our footy club.”

The future of another Victorian-born Port player, Steven Salopek, is more clouded.

Salopek, once a highly-touted midfielder who Port recruited with pick six in the 2002 draft, has been dropped to the SANFL reserves for the second time this season.

“We’re unhappy with where he’s at and he certainly is … we’ll keep forcing Steven to try and produce better form,” Primus said of the 26-year-old.