Six years after first arriving at Hartlepool United, Joel Porter is finally heading home. Before his departure Down Under, Sports Editor Nick Loughlin met up with the striker at Victoria Park and discovered it’s not the first time he has contemplated flying back to Australia.

IN October 2003, with his hopes of making a career for himself in English football looking slim, a 23-year-old hopeful called Joel Porter had had enough.

Trials at Wigan Athletic and Sunderland had come to nothing. The ambtion was all but over, so he booked his flights and was ready to head home.

A late change of mind led to Porter joining Hartlepool United, where he became a hero. He could also have gone back 12 months ago, but now, some 209 games and 65 goals later, there’s no turning back.

This time Joel Porter really is going home to Australia.

“I said my goodbyes at the training ground last week,’’ he reflected as he prepared to embark on a three-year contract with Gold Coast United, the newest team in Australia’s A-League.

“It’s part and parcel of football, people come and go, but it’s unfortunate that my move is to the other side of the world and I probably won’t see them again.’’ And perhaps the Victoria Park crowd won’t see his like again.

Poter signed for Pools on November 25, 2003, after then Sunderland boss Mick McCarthy recommended him to Pools’ assistant boss Martin Scott.

“I went to Wigan and was there a month or so. Paul Jewell was happy to keep me training there but I couldn’t play in any games because of visa problems, so I tried other clubs and went to Sunderland,’’ recalled Porter.

“Two days before I came to Hartlepool I was going home, I’d phoned the airline to book a flight back home.

“Little things change your life and now here I am. My agent rang me back and asked me to give it one more try – I said no. He tried again an hour later, begged me and here I am.

“It’s been a great experience and I’m happy he didn’t take my first word, that’s for sure.

If I was 23 again and had the chance to do it again I would.’’ Ironically the man Pools have signed to replace Porter is the one with whom he enjoyed his finest moments.

Paired up front with Adam Boyd, the duo fired Pools to the play-off final in 2005. It wasn’t a little and large partnership, more verve and vision.

In 169 appearances for his hometown club, Boyd has 60 goals. Porter’s netted five more than his former partner in crime.

Together that season they wreaked havoc, scoring 45 times.

Next season there’s no reason to doubt that Boyd will score the eight goals he needs to move into the top ten of alltime Pools scorers, overtaking Porter and pushing him down to 12th in the list.

“It’s strange that I’m leaving and Boydy is coming back,’’ admitted Porter. “It’s disappointing that I’m away and it would have been nice to re-ignite the partnership and see if we could do what we did a few years ago, but it’s not to be.

“I’ve had a few strike partners here over the years, but he was the best.

“The partnership we had was special and we understood each other’s game well. I think if he is back and James Brown gets fit and we bring in one or two more quality strikers, then we will progress.

“You get players who you sometimes click with and he was one of them. We knew where each other was and we found each other – you don’t get that with everyone you play with.

“We were on a similar wavelength and similar in style.

One would make runs to pull defenders aside for the other to run into.

“A lot has been said about having a big targetman for me to play off but a lot of the time it doesn’t seem as effective – that’s proven with results and the goals I’ve scored playing with Boydy.

“He has things in his locker you cannot teach – natural ability. Remember his hat-trick against Sheffield Wednesday at the Vic? He showed everyone watching that night and the rest of the county what he could do.

“He could do anything, any time and that night he was unplayable.’’ In 2005, Boyd enjoyed his most prolific season, Porter was on top of his game and Hartlepool United played on their biggest stage of all.

REACHING the League One play-off final at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium saw Pools lose 4-2 to Sheffield Wednesday in extra time.

“That season (2004-5) was the best,’’ he admitted.

“Looking back, there were times when we knew going out that we wouldn’t be beaten.

“No matter how many the opposition scored, we would get more. And the day in Cardiff at the Millennium Stadium is a day never to forget. In 50 years time I’ll be able to tell the grandkids when they go and visit Hartlepool to mention their grandad played that day!

“I’ve played for my country and scored for my country and that was on a par. Playing for your country is special, it was a great honour for me and my family.

“As a professional footballer to play on that stage in front of almost 60,000 people for Hartlepool is what dreams are made of. I know not every player can manage to do that and play in such special games, but it’s something I will never forget.’’ Porter was replaced after 70 minutes that day, hobbling off and left looking on from the sidelines as Pools’ biggest day ended in defeat after being reduced to ten men in the closing minutes while leading 2-1 in front of a crowd of 59,808.

“We were eight minutes from the Championship,’’ Porter reflected. “Who knows?

We may not be talking about what might have been and instead I may still be a Hartlepool player and still playing in the Championship.

“We lost and it hurt everyone.

Hartlepool is a great club, don’t get me wrong, but it’s a small club and to get to that stage was a major achievement.

“I think the first hour after the game was very disappointing because of the way we lost, not because we lost. Extra time, the sendingoff and the way it went ...

“But we looked at it and were so proud of what we achieved and how we got there. I was so proud. A fantastic achievement and something the club can hopefully achieve again, but it may be the highest point the club gets to.’’ Porter has played for five managers at Victoria Park.

Signed by Neale Cooper, he was injured for the majority of Martin Scott’s tenure, returned under caretaker Paul Stephenson and was in and out of the side in the first 18 months of Danny Wilson’s reign before this season, a campaign in which his 23 goals kept Chris Turner’s side in League One.

Down Under he will look to continue the path he has started at Pool’s centre of excellence and develop his coaching career.

“Every manager I’ve played under was different,’’ he said.

“Coops wanted to kick every ball, make every tackle, he was so passionate. Danny knew the game inside out tactically and wasn’t as expressive on the bench, but he knew how to get his point across and speak to the players.

“Most of them have been good to me.

“I’ve started coaching myself, and I can take bits from everyone and try to instill what I’ve learned from playing into the group I’ve been coaching here, the club’s under-14s.

“It’s something I’m looking to progress in the future. I will try my hardest to get the qualifications and do some top-level coaching in Australia – who knows, I may be back here to manage one day.

“The experience of English football can only help me over there. The game in Australia is moving, but it’s still quite behind and whatever I can take with me can only help.’’ WHATEVER experiences he takes back, perhaps little can prepare him for what is to come.

Gold Coast United are thinking big for their inaugural campaign in the ALeague.

Bankrolled by Clive Palmer, the richest man in Queensland, Gold Coast will have their own private jet to travel to games when the season starts in August.

“The main aim of Pools is to stay in League One and it doesn’t matter how many goals you score or how many trophies you win in League Two, the bottom line is that you didn’t do your job in the first place,’’ he admitted.

“We stayed up, just, but we did what we set out to do from the start of the season. It’s been a great year for me personally, but I can only thank everyone who I have played with, the coaches and fans.

“Some trophies I’ve won are voted for by the fans and it means so much to get them.

“Back home and the ambition with the club is high. The chairman is quite outspoken and he’s already said we are going to remain unbeaten all season and win the league, so there’s no expectations there to worry about then!

“There’s a bit of pressure on us and I have to repeat what I’ve done this season. It won’t be easy, but hopefully I can learn from the pressure here.

“There’s been some good players signed by Gold Coast and it’s something to look forward to.’’ But whatever happens next season in the yellow and blue shirts of Gold Coast, there’s part of Hartlepool that Porter may take a while to shake off.

His son, Jake, was born in Hartlepool, England.

Porter, however, with a bit of Hartlepudlian creeping into his Aussie twang, sees it a little differently: “I’ve picked up a Hartlepool accent to my voice now.

“Hopefully it won’t last too long! My parents and family give me stick over the phone about how I sound, but I’m an Aussie.

“I’m happy my son was born in Hartlepool but if he ever plays international football it will be in green and gold!’’