Although he is out of contract at the third tier club, Porter has impressed manager Danny Wilson since returning to the side in the New Year after injury.

It seems he will almost certainly have a choice to make with Hartlepool and the Phoenix both putting offers on the table. While money is always a factor, Phoenix will hope the pull of home will win the day and see Porter pledge his future to the A-League.

Porter’s current club will finish the season in the lower reaches of League One with Porter exasperated with a case of ‘what might have been’. That too could work in Wellington’s favour if he feels Hartlepool have gone as far as they can.

He told the Northern Echo: “If you look back at some of the results we have had, we might have even got into the automatic promotion places.

“It’s probably that bit of hunger that we are missing at the moment.

“That’s what football is all about. There are a lot of good teams on paper but if you can't grind out results, you are not going to get anywhere.

“It is easy to say we are a good team, but can we say we are a good team when we are in the position where we are.

“I don't know if we need to play uglier when we have got the ball, but defensively we might need to be a bit more of a rough and tough dirty team and start going through a few lads.”

The former Sydney Olympic and Melbourne Knights striker is aware of Wellington’s interest with the Westpac club keeping their fingers crossed that their efforts will pay off.

Phoenix chief executive officer Tony Pignata told au.fourfourtwo.com recently: “Yes, Joel is someone we would like to get here but he still has an English league season to complete so we wouldn’t expect a decision before early May.

“We’re hopeful though that the prospect of coming back to play in the A-League is very appealing to him.”

Porter, who represented Australia during the 2002 Oceania Cup, has previously been linked with a switch to Perth Glory.