Wellington Phoenix hit by injury crisis ahead of A-League opener

As Giancarlo Italiano prepares for his second A-League Men's campaign in charge, the Wellington Phoenix coach isn't sure whether his glass is half empty or half full.

On the one hand, the Nix will begin the season in something of an injury crisis, with star recruit Marco Rojas on the sidelines, as well as three others.

"We've been extremely unlucky ... everything that could possibly go wrong this pre-season has," he told AAP.

Rojas, who has romantically returned to the club after 13 years away, has a fractured leg.

Out for "probably another two or three weeks", he is certain to miss Sunday's opener at home to Western United.

With an inaugural New Zealand derby against Auckland FC looming in round three, Italiano could only say his star man "might be involved".

Beyond Rojas, new recruit Paulo Retre has a groin injury to sideline him for "at least three to four weeks but it could be up to six".

Lukas Kelly-Heald has a hamstring injury that will mean he misses a month, while Gabriel Sloane-Rodrigues has hurt his knee, which Italiano said was not a major injury, but leaving him without a recovery timeline.

"Look, these things happen," Italiano said.

"Unfortunately, when you're having a scattered pre-season with player availability, they kind of hurt you a little bit more than what they otherwise would."

Italiano said the absences meant his team on Sunday would have a youthful feel.

He cryptically offered that one academy player is likely to start, with first-team outings for other youngsters, without saying who.

While player availability is a problem for the Nix, Italiano perks up when discussing the football he's seen from his team in pre-season.

"I'm not one to spin that things are going unbelievably well (compared) to where I'd like it to be," he said.

"Things that we've been wanting to put on the park has been quite positive. We're probably way ahead of where we were last year to be fair.

"In that respect I can't fault the group. It's just a matter of getting those guys up consistently ... once we roll into the season, once we get a full good month underneath our belt, that's when we'll start flying."

Wellington were last season's surprise title contenders, finishing second after pushing Central Coast all the way in the race for the premiership.

That run led to star players Ben Old, Finn Surman and Alex Paulsen being sold for big fees, and foreign talents Bozhidar Kraev and Oskar Zawada being lured by bigger wages elsewhere.

As opposed to last season, Italiano has brought in several new senior players, including Rojas, Retre, Stefan Colakovski, English gloveman Josh Oluwayemi, and Japanese pair Kazuki Nagasawa and Hideki Ishige.

"Now we need games. We need to play as many games as we can and and then find the chemistry within the group," Italiano said.

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