Ruled out of Round 1's meeting with Melbourne City with what was described as ‘a persistent hamstring injury’, Kruse’s health had been deemed a week-to-week proposition by Victory’s medical staff.

Victory failed to officially find the back of the net in the absence of the 31-year-old last Saturday, after Elvis Kamsoba’s potential winner was disallowed after VAR detected that the Burundi international had been offside in the build-up.

The result was a somewhat dour 0-0 draw in front of 33,523 fans at Marvel Stadium.

Kruse had been expected to serve as one head of a fearsome attacking Cerberus for Victory this coming season, slotting in alongside Ola Toivonen and Andrew Nabbout in one of the most-pedigreed attacking lineups in the competition’s history.

All three men started for their respective nations at the 2018 World Cup in Russia. 

But the hemming and hawing over Kruse’s health will likely give Vuck fans unwelcome flashbacks to the 2018/19 season, in which persistent and frequent injuries to key stars hampered their side’s ability to create a cohesive, fluid attack.

Speaking to media as he prepared to lead his group into their second-straight home fixture against Western Sydney Wanderers on Friday night, Kurz said that his injured attacker wouldn’t be risked.

“At the moment, he is not available,” Kurz said.

“We are on the way to setting him up to make him strong, to be sure that he is strong enough to be a competitive player for us. 

“At the moment, he is in rehab. He’s still training one-on-one with the physio or with our strength coach. 

“[A return date is] only speculation, I cannot say. Hopefully, it will be quick as we can get him - I will be happy - but on the other side we must be careful because we need him for the long term, not the short term. 

“It’s not fair to set up a timeline because maybe he comes back earlier and we are happy, but injuries need time and you don’t know what’s going to happen the next day.

"We must be fair, when he is ready to come back to team training, he is fit enough, he’s back."

Further complicating life for Victory’s new gaffer is the injury suffered by German defender Tim Hoogland.

Occurring with what Kurz described as “the last kick of the last training session” ahead of last week’s derby, a media release from Victory on Wednesday morning revealed that the former Schalke, Mainz and Fulham man had suffered a quad strain that will sideline him for up to six weeks.

Though his absence may not have been felt on the scoreboard, the impact of Hoogland’s absence was clearly demonstrated in Victory’s struggle slingshotting from defence to attack.

In a league in which transition remains king, the four-time A-League Champions are beginning to look stilted in their attempts to get the ball forward.

“In the worst case it’s six weeks (for Hoogland),” Kurz said.

“In the best case, maybe three to four. If he is ready for training we will let you know and then they need one-to-two weeks to come back and be ready for a game. 

“I’m disappointed for the boy because he played a really good pre-season, he is a big loss for us. He is a big player. 

“He will come back in good shape.”

Nonetheless, in brighter news for the Victory faithful, back-up striker Kenny Athiu is expected to be available for the Wanderers' visit after returning from international duty with South Sudan.

He and his teammates secured progression to the next round of AFCON Qualifiers with a 3-1 aggregate win over Seychelles. The 27-year-old striker will likely return to the bench in what Kurz is expecting to be a tough encounter against Sydney’s Red and Black half.

“The first game is always hard,” Kurz said.

“To have a long pre-season without official games, that was what we had - it’s always hard. 

“I felt this week, I saw a focused team, it was different to last week because now we know the tournament has started.

“I wasn’t disappointed with the [derby], we had a really good first half. The final pass and crosses - the last decisions - we can do it better. I think the improvement this week was ok but it’s now our job to bring it to the pitch on Friday.

“[Western Sydney are] a strong team. They made really good signings in the pre-season. 

“Maybe they’ve some of the same problems to get players fit after late signings but they have a strong offensive line with Duke and Meir. They have a very smart midfielder with Schwiegler.

“They started with a victory, that means they are confident to come to Melbourne. I think they’re a strong side in Western Sydney.”