Nix boss Ufuk Talay is aiming to have Hooper ready for selection for the Central Coast Mariners fixture on the 4th of January.
The Englishman has an excellent record from his time in the Football League, but the lack of a proper pre-season and a small knock picked up against Melbourne Victory have hampered his progression down under.
“He (Gary Hooper) had a bit of a groin strain, so when we played him against Melbourne City he picked that up. We’ve been modifying what he does and were giving him a bit of a mini pre-season because he had no game time when he came in,” explained Talay.
Still needs to be managed
Talay has been able to field his striker for just 135 minutes as the new head coach has been easing the former Celtic star back into the stream of things. “We’ll see how the game goes, we’ll manage it. If we need him to come on, he’ll come on,” said the gaffer.
“But, for me, were trying to get Gary ready and we have a plan for him. We’re looking at the Central Coast game to get him starting, that’s the plan at the moment.”
The Phoenix made a move for the 31-year-old, who has 199 professional goals in 460 appearances, after he had been without a club for a while and this is something the Nix have had to be extremely careful about.
Talay conceded that this was a risk, but admitted ‘we’ve tried to manage him and we’re managing him well.’
But in his stead, David Ball and Ulises Davila are playing well. The former has two goals and three assists while the latter has hit the back of the net seven times as Davila has enjoyed a whirlwind start to his Wellington career.