Could Melbourne City win a match without their marquee man Aaron Mooy, away on Socceroo duty for the current round of World Cup qualifiers?
Normally it would be folly to suggest that any A-League team depends so much on one player; after all, this is a competition designed to be like a handicap race, all clubs circumscribed in their spending and player rosters to ensure equal competitiveness.
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Steve Mascord's Set of Six: Round 23
Wanderers smash helpless City
Western Sydney Wanderers win their third straight match and are now just one point behind competition leaders Sydney FC after stomping a lacklustre Melbourne City outfit 3-0.
But where City are concerned there is at least a grain of plausibility to such a suggestion.
The shaven headed midfielder is their chief creative outlet, takes every set piece and weighs in with goals from distance too. His absence meant there was plenty of responsibility on the shoulders of youngsters like Stefan Mauk and Jacob Melling as well as the returning Harry Novillo against the in-form Western Sydney Wanderers.
Sadly for City, the answer to the Mooy question appears to be no, as the 3-0 scoreline in favour of the Wanderers would indicate.
They never created enough to threaten their tough, well-organised opponents, and although the hosts were incandescent at a refereeing decision after West Sydney's frontman Federico Piovaccari netted his first-ever goal for the club, they could hardly use that as the sole excuse for their failure to get something out of this match.
Just after the hour mark, with the Wanderers a goal to the good, the assistant referee had flagged for offside as the visitors attacked down the right, before the ball was played through to Piovaccari. The striker played on and scored, and referee Peter Green over-ruled his fellow official's call. City were enraged, but there was nothing they could have done.
It all turned out to be academic as Mark Bridge subsequently slid in at the far post to make it three in the dying minutes. The Wanderers have now won three on the spin and look on the march.
Tony Popovic has cleared the decks this year and brought in a number of new faces; some of these new boys – particularly midfielder Mitch Nichols – have worked out, others – principally Italian marquee Piovaccari, had yet to do so.
John van 't Schip has also recruited extensively and on Friday night one of his fresh signings – if that adjective can be used about a 36-year-old – was given his City debut, the former Fulham and Newcastle United man having been sidelined by injury through virtually all of his time in Australia.
Aaron Hughes came in at the back for captain Patrick Kisnorbo, while David Williams (knee) was the other change from the City side that had looked so impressive in the 4-2 win over Adelaide.
Wanderers showed little fear on their first visit of the season to AAMI Park, although their woeful defensive record away from home – they had not kept a clean sheet in 20 matches on the road – suggested they should have.
Novillo had the first chance for City early, taking a pass from Bruno Fornaroli and shooting just wide.
But it was not an indicator of things to come as the men in red and black were to have the better of the first half
Another of their new faces, Dario Vidosic, shot wide, Piovaccari tried his luck with an ambitious overhead kick (an attempt replicated at the other end by Novillo on the half hour mark) and City keeper Thomas Sorensen had to come out smartly to punch clear Scott Neville's cross.
Andrew Redmayne, a goalkeeper deemed surplus to requirements at City, is trying to reboot his career with the Wanderers. But he almost gave his former employers a gift in the 19th minute when he inexplicably passed a clearance straight out to Novillo: it was only his bravery, diving at the Frenchman's feet to smother a shot, that redeemed him.
Wanderers took barely two minutes of the second period to get their noses in front and it was Nichols, escaping his marker, who popped up on the far post to convert a Vidosic cross after the former Socceroo got clear on the right.
It opened the floodgates for what was an easy and deserved win. The Wanderers will take plenty from this game, while City fans will feel once more their previous win was another false dawn.