Perth Glory hopes it will be a case of no Diego Castro, no worries when they take on Brisbane Roar in Wednesday night's FFA Cup showdown at Ballymore Stadium.
Castro was the star of the A-League last season, winning the Johnny Warren Medal as the competition's best player.
The 34-year-old Spaniard has re-signed with Glory for the coming season, but he won't arrive in Perth until later in August after being granted extra leave during the preseason.
Glory coach Kenny Lowe has assembled a star-studded squad, with Rhys Williams, Rostyn Griffiths and Adam Taggart among the players who have been added to last season's roster.
Lowe is confident Castro won't have any problems fitting back into the team when he arrives in Perth.
"The foreign boys don't like a 16-week preseason. They're used to the European six-weeker," Lowe joked on Tuesday.
"He'll be all right. He came last year and adjusted.
"If I remember rightly, last year you lads were questioning him at the beginning of the season. So I'm sure he'll be OK."
Brisbane will be without Danish import Thomas Kristensen, who will be given more time to improve his fitness.
The Glory have reached the past two finals of the FFA Cup, but are yet to land any silverware.
Adelaide beat them in the inaugural year of the competition, before Melbourne Victory pipped the West Australians 2-0 in last year's decider.
Lowe said he won't be using those near misses as inspiration going into the current campaign.
Instead, he said it was important for his team to progress as far as they could in order to boost their preseason preparations.
"We find it difficult over here to get quality games because the east coast teams don't really want to travel," Lowe said.
"So if we can extend that FFA Cup run, it helps our preseason."
Roar have been dogged by financial woes during the off-season, with the Queensland Rugby Union even filing an application to have the A-League club wound up.
Lowe knows all too well what it's like to go through off-field dramas after dealing with the fallout of Perth's salary cap controversy in 2015.
He said it was sad seeing Brisbane going through their own turmoil.
"Knowing from what we went through, I wouldn't wish that on anybody," Lowe said.
"But it can bring you together. Sometimes it's a good thing [from a playing sense]."