Melbourne Victory are unlikely to risk the fitness of full-back Evan Berger in Friday night's match against Central Coast, while Billy Celeski is set for a recall two weeks after suffering a setback in his recovery from a knee reconstruction.
Berger picked up a corked hamstring in last week's 1-0 win over Gold Coast and given his previous problem with soft-tissue injuries, Victory coach Ernie Merrick feels the club will take a more cautious approach.
"He had a cork which he is suffering a little bit from," Merrick said. "We'll have a chat about it. We are pretty consistent about this. After someone has had a run of three or four games, if there is an injury concern, we'll play it safe."
Merrick could decide to alter his formation slightly in Berger's absence, fielding wing backs instead of full backs, but will make a decision on match day.
That may mean Diogo Ferriera starts the match, or Leigh Broxham moves into a wide position, with Celeski a chance to come in only a fortnight after his knee buckled at training.
"He's definitely in the frame, Billy. His build-up has been very good, we didn't take a risk when he hyper-flexed his knee and strained it a little bit, but he's bounced back from that very well and he's training very well. He'll be in the squad," Merrick said.
Melbourne are still awaiting a international clearance for their Brazilian striker Ricardinho two weeks after he was unveiled as the club's international marquee signing.
Merrick is not overly concerned by the delay in the process and hasn't ruled out rushing the striker into the squad should the paperwork be finalised by Friday.
"It's about the normal time to come from Brazil. Something might happen, I'm not sure," the coach said.
"If you saw his training this week, he's been outstanding. We thought we'd have to leave it another week, but has his clearance come through we would have used him. He's been outstanding. He's very fast. He's got similar control of the ball as Carlos Hernandez and hi strike with his left or right foot is first class," he said.
"He'd be straight off the bench (when the paperwork arrives). He's gone beyond my expectations in training so far. If the paperwork came through (before the Mariners match) we'd put him in the squad."