Perth Glory key defender Hayden Foxe will miss the first three to four matches of the new Hyundai A-League season after a foot injury failed to heal as expected.
The former Socceroo previously broke his foot playing for Portsmouth in January 2004 and was forced to miss the next 18 months after enduring a series of complications which eventually led to his contract not being renewed by then Pompey manager Alain Perrin in 2005.
With that in mind, Glory coach Dave Mitchell is taking no risks with his star defender after Foxe re-injured his foot playing against the Melbourne Victory in the Pre-Season Cup.
"Hayden's been setback for probably three to four weeks, so we just have to monitor that," Mitchell said following training on Tuesday.
"(He injured it) just playing the game against Melbourne ... and it's been bruised since."
"So we've had x-rays on it, the x-rays have shown it's ok, he's just feeling a bit of pain when he's running on it, so we just want to be a bit cautious with that."
Mitchell admitted the current injury was probably related to Foxe's past problems in that area but said it certainly wasn't as serious as last time.
"We just want to make sure," Mitchell said. "I'd rather go on the side of caution than a player try and play and he makes it worse and he's out for six to 10 weeks, so that's exactly the way we're looking at."
Mitchell said utility Jamie Harnwell would also definitely miss the first match against Adelaide United on Sunday after having a pre-season hip operation six weeks ago.
He said Harnwell was also unlikely to play in the Glory's second match of the new season against Newcastle on Friday week, but added the absentees would give players like Dino Djulbic and Hayden Doyle an opportunity to start in the club's defence for those matches.
Mitchell also said that if the Olyroos was knocked out of the Beijing Olympics on Tuesday night through a loss to the Ivory Coast, then defender Nikolai Topor-Stanley may be available to replace Foxe at centre back, with striker Nikita Rukavytsya and goalkeeper Tando Velaphi also a chance to be added to the squad.