Socceroos hopeful Dan Hall could miss multiple months with a broken ankle in a hammer blow to the talented centre-back and A-League Men leaders Auckland FC.
Auckland were without Hall, Cam Howieson (calf) and Louis Verstraete (back) for Sunday's 2-2 draw with Melbourne City.
"Louis has a sore back, so I think he should be back next week (against Western United on Saturday), hopefully a week or two," coach Steve Corica said.
"Cam has done his calf, so he'll be out for five weeks, and Dan, he'll be out not sure how long yet.
"He's broken a bone in his ankle. He'll be out for a little bit longer.
"You're talking about two months, three months - we'll see once we get what we need from the doctor."
Hall, 25, had been in sublime form but suffered the injury in training this week.
Former Central Coast Mariners rock Hall is eligible to play for Fiji and Australia.
But he will have to wait to put his name up in lights for the Socceroos, who return to action against Indonesia and China in March.
"He's been amazing, him and Nando (Pijnaker) together," Corica said.
"Obviously, really disappointed for him, because they were starting to talk about him for the national team as well.
"He just slid into a challenge in training, rolled his ankle, and obviously there's a fracture there. So, really disappointed.
"It's a big blow for us. It's that mental effect from the players as well, knowing that he's out. As disappointed as he is, we all are very disappointed about that.
"But he'll come back stronger and better, but we need to get through this period while he's out."
The Socceroos hadn't been in contact with Corica about Hall but he was confident the 25-year-old would be on Tony Popovic's radar.
"I'm sure Tony watches all the A-League games," Corica said.
"He's a good quality defender, so his name's obviously been thrown about for that, but he'll have to wait for that.
"He'll come back, and he'll come back stronger and finish the season off with us. And yeah, I'm sure he'll at some stage get that opportunity."
