Melbourne Victory midfielder Nick Ward has been ordered on to an intravenous drip as he attempts to beat a golden staph infection which has stalled his A-League career.Ward was hospitalised last week with a mystery infection in the muscles around his abdomen, which the Victory have since confirmed is golden staph.The former Young Socceroos midfielder has had a wretched run of injuries - his latest illness setback coming just as he had seemingly secured a first-team place for the Victory.Melbourne coach Ernie Merrick confirmed there was no firm prognosis for Ward, a late withdrawal from Melbourne's 3-2 win over the Gold Coast last week.He will also miss the clash with Brisbane Roar at Etihad Stadium on Saturday night."He's very unfortunate - it's a golden staph infection in his abdomen," Merrick said."He has to have an intravenous drip and he's doing that now in a portable fashion - a needle in his arm with the antibiotics going in."We have to see how much strength he's going to lose and how much time it's going to take him conditioned again."We don't expect to have him for at least the next three or four weeks. He has lost weight but he's on the road to recovery now."Merrick is toying with the idea of starting ex-Roar winger Robbie Kruse against his former club, while veteran midfielder Tom Pondeljak returns from injury."It's a big temptation to put Robbie in - he gives us that three or four-player frontline," Merrick said."I'll leave it until the last minute. I don't want to give too much away."The Victory played out a classic 3-3 draw with the Roar at Etihad Stadium earlier this season - five of the six goals outstanding.But Melbourne were without several key players for that match, including skipper Kevin Muscat and new defensive signing Adrian Leijer - both of whom will play this time around.Kruse is also now in Melbourne colours after being one of the Roar's best in that match.The Victory were also struggling for touch early in the season, but have won their past two matches.But Merrick said the Victory's turnaround in fortunes was more to do with persistence rather than any great leap in form."To get six points in two away games, we're really happy with that. I never felt we were out of form - it was just a consistency thing."