Ange Postecoglou has accepted the inevitable, excluding an unfit Mile Jedinak from his Australia squad for next week's two crunch World Cup qualifiers.
Postecoglou left the Asian Cup-winning captain out of his 23-man squad for Australia's final games of their qualifying group, against Japan (Aug. 31) and Thailand (Sept. 5).
Jedinak hasn't played for his club side Aston Villa since April as he nurses a long-running groin complaint.
His only outing in the last five months was to play through the pain barrier in Australia's 3-2 qualifying win over Saudi Arabia in June.
The 33-year-old didn't play for Villa in a cup match on Wednesday morning, which was effectively a fitness test for his national team.