The 32-year-old attacking midfielder underwent surgery on his meniscus in late November, with the initial diagnosis being six weeks out.

Holman, who was a big off-season signing for Roar, may have a delayed return but team-mate Matt McKay said he wasn’t far away.

“Brett Holman is starting to run now, so he’ll be back in a few weeks,” McKay said.

Holman scored one goal in eight matches for Brisbane before succumbing to the injury.

McKay said the Roar strength and conditioning staff would ensure Holman would be ready upon his return to full fitness.

“I’ve seen him on his haunches after a few runs there. He’s working hard,” McKay said.

“We’re at a club where if you’re injured you really don’t want to be because you work as hard to get back to full match fitness.

“He’s doing those yards and hopefully we’ll see him in a few weeks.”

Meanwhile, McKay said he was hopeful could re-sign the core of their off-contract players which includes Thomas Kristensen, Jamie Maclaren, Thomas Broich, Jade North, Michael Theo, Luke DeVere, Dimitri Petratos, Manuel Arana and Jacob Pepper.

“There’s lots over the whole league, it’s just the way it is,” he said.

“I’d love to keep everyone we’ve got at the club. I was happy to re-sign just over a month ago.

“We’ve got to keep the core bunch together, if we can do that, we can build our momentum over the years.

“We’ll wait and see what happens. That’s for the backroom guys.”

He added that he’d spoken to Maclaren, who was last week linked with Premier League club Stoke City.

“I can’t, I already have,” McKay laughed.

“He’s obviously a great player. He’ll start banging them in for sure these coming weeks and his value will continue to rise. He’ll look after himself.”