But it's a completely different story at his London club, Crystal Palace, where, in the past year, he has gone from being the inspirational captain to becoming a bit-part player at best.

When Palace crashed at home to bottom side Sunderland on Tuesday morning (AEST) in a result that qualified as a Premier League upset, Jedinak was an unused substitute.

It seems that he doesn't really fit in with Palace manager Alan Pardew's plans, and as Christmas and the January transfer window looms it is likely that speculation over Jedinak's future will only begin again.

Jedinak's "problems" in some ways date back to the days of his greatest triumph. As he led Australia to its greatest triumph in the Asian Cup, Pardew came in at Selhurst Park as a new broom sweeping clean following Neil Warnock's demise as manager.

Jedinak was out of sight and out of mind while he was away for the whole of January, and he has never really fitted Pardew's plans since.

This season has seen the Socceroo skipper have little involvement outside of League Cup matches, when managers traditionally field their second-choice sides.

He came on with 10 minutes left in Palace's scoreless draw with Manchester United in the Premier League, played 14 minutes in the 1-0 away loss to Leicester and 27 minutes in the 3-1 home defeat by West Ham. He got 10 minutes in the 1-0 defeat by Manchester City, wasn't used in the home loss to Arsenal early in the season and played 18 minutes in the opening-day win over Norwich as well as eight minutes in Palace's 2-1 home victory over Aston Villa in August.

Jedinak was sidelined for some of the time — the injury he picked up in the 4-1 League Cup win over Shrewsbury meant he missed the September and October World Cup qualifiers against Tajikistan, Bangladesh and Jordan — but given Pardew's track record it is unlikely he would have got much game time even if he had been available.

The last time Jedinak played a full game for Palace was in a midweek fixture at the end of October, when the London side was thrashed 5-1 by Manchester City in the League Cup.

In the last transfer window Jedinak was linked with moves to West Brom (where his old Palace boss Tony Pulis is in charge) and Stoke City.

But the Australian skipper is well settled in south London, enjoys life in the capital with his family and would prefer to stay there.

If he opts to remain at Palace and battle for his place there will be plenty of goodwill from the club's supporters, who have appreciated the effort he has put in in leading them to a play-off final win and promotion to the Premier League and then consolidation in the top flight.

But if he opts to leave, no one would blame him, although his options, should he stay in London, will be limited.