Phoenix CEO Tony Pignata told au.fourfourtwo.com the club is confident of securing the striker’s services beyond the end of the current campaign and that negotiations are now underway.

Smeltz was one of the A-League’s biggest hits last season after he was recruited by Ricki Herbert from the backwaters of English non-league football.

The New Zealand international has picked up where he left off, netting in Sunday’s A-League opener against Queensland Roar.

Pignata said today: “Hands off Shane Smeltz!

"We were delighted with the contribution Shane made to the club last season and it’s great to see him on the scoresheet again so early in the season.

“We want him to be part of what we’re trying to build and achieve here and we’ve opened negotiations over extending his contract (which runs until the end of the current season).

“I’m sure there are other clubs who are interested, they’d be silly not to be, people aren’t supposed to speak to him but we can’t be naive about the situation.

“We want him to stay and hopefully he can see how far we’ve come and where we really want to go with this football club.”

Smeltz is not the only player the club will be talking to in order to extend their stay at Westpac Stadium.

Phoenix do not want a situation where the season ends and they suddenly find themselves in danger of losing numerous players.

Pignata said: “We’ve already started the talks with Shane and now we’ll be starting to talk to other players. We want to shore them up pretty quickly and have a settled (contracts) situation.

“It’s important that you look ahead in these situations and get things in place. Yes, you want to have success now but you are also building something for the future.”

At the recent season four A-League launch Smeltz told au.fourfourtwo.com: “I'm just focusing on the start of the season and getting off to a good start.

"Obviously after that you can never plan too far your career down the track, but at the moment, I'm enjoying playing and staying in Wellington.”