Mary Fowler's ACL tear underlines the need for player input when developing a women's football calendar that increasingly reflects the hyper-congested men's schedule, says Australia's soccer players union boss.
Professional Footballers Association chief executive Beau Busch says easing the load on in-demand players also isn't as simple as simply removing the April international window.
Fowler was injured in Manchester City's FA Cup semi-final loss to Manchester United on Sunday, less than a week after returning from friendlies with the Matildas in NSW, and is in doubt for the home Asian Cup next March.
Fowler, 22, has played more than 40 games between club and country over the past year across Europe, Australia, Asia and the United States, with minimal breaks.
Busch told AAP there was a need to look at all injuries in relation to club and international matches and overlay that with how the match calendar was operating.
"What we believe is the biggest issue at the moment is the calendar continues to evolve and develop, really, in the absence of the players' voice around that," he said.
"We've seen that hyper-congestion occur on the men's side as a result of players having no meaningful say over the development of the international match calendar.
"And our fear is, at the moment, on the women's side, we're pretty rapidly heading down that same path.
"The result of what we're seeing is top players such as Mary, and previously, Hayley Raso, exposed to overload, but then we're seeing other players around the world playing not enough matches to be internationally competitive."
There have been calls to remove the April window, given it falls late in several league seasons, and near the pointy end of the Women's FA Cup and Women's Champions League.
It's not necessarily that simple.
"The concern would be, right now in the way the game is governed internationally, what's likely to happen is that you take out the April window and just something else is put in there," Busch, who is also president of FIFPRO Asia/Oceania, said.
Busch noted there is also a balance to strike with the Matildas playing important games in Australia - for both sporting and commercial reasons - while limiting the impact of travel.
Last year, based on a FIFPro report, six Matildas were in the top 10 women's players for international air travel between club and national team duties.
"We know it has an extensive impact on our players," Busch said.
"When you see the players arriving into camp often on a Tuesday to play important matches on the Thursday, and then back up again early the next week, and then rush off to get back to their clubs and play important league matches, you can see the toll that takes on them."
For Busch, it is crucial to give players a chance to collectively bargain with FIFA, clubs and leagues on their calendar to ensure they get the breaks, and the off-season, they need.
"That's surely going to mean that the best players are on the pitch more consistently, but also one that ensures that it's based on the needs of all stakeholders and works in a way that's really effective," he said.
"We believe that will create a better match calendar and then ensure that we're no longer seeing it really develop in this chaotic way, and see the negative side effects of that, which is injuries to players such as Mary and others."
