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Stinging after their opening-round loss to Western United, Melbourne Victory will be able to call upon speedster Lia Privitelli and left-back Gema Simon against Sydney FC.
Victory slumped to a 1-0 defeat to the A-League Women newcomers on Saturday and clearly missed the pace and drive of Privitelli (quad), last season's championship captain.
Simon, who joined from Newcastle over the off-season, is a specialist left-back and Natalie Tathem stepped in for her, despite illness during the week.
"They were both kind of in contention for today but we didn't want to push them," coach Jeff Hopkins told reporters.
"They've been up and down through pre-season ... so we ruled them out, and they'll be ready for next week and in contention for a place.
"That's our aim, is that we have 21 fit players every week and we pick the best 11 from that."
Tathem worked hard but suffered a wrist injury in the first half and was substituted during the second half.
Hopkins expected Tathem, who had her left arm in a sling post-match, to have an X-ray on Saturday.
He also revealed striker Melina Ayres hadn't been training fully over the past two weeks.
United handled the blustery conditions far better than Victory on Saturday but Elise Kellond-Knight, Alex Chidiac and Beattie Goad impressed.
The loss certainly wasn't causing any panic for experienced mentor Hopkins, who expected his charges to rally quickly against Sydney next Saturday.
"As a team we executed our game plan for 70 minutes," Hopkins said.
"Now we just need to extend that a little bit more when we go to Sydney next week and for the first home game in two weeks' time as well.
"There was some really good performances individually but also the way that we played as a team was excellent.
"It gives me hope for next week because I know we'll work on it through the week and I know we'll be better next week and I know we'll be fitter next week, closer to match fitness.
"So I'm reasonably happy."
