Starring for Wellington Phoenix, the 26-year-old striker has netted eight goals in the opening nine rounds of the competition, including a history making eighth round hat-trick against Melbourne City, and is the competition’s leading goal scorer.

Burns’s triple in the 5-1 win was the first hat-trick scored in the Phoenix’s 194-game history, and catapulted the former Bathurst ‘75-Western star from potential Socceroo to an all but guaranteed selection.

The squad, which will be trimmed to 23 before the tournament starts, reflects coach  Ange Postecoglou’s desire to broaden the base of players in a bid to strengthen the group before facing Asia’s best next year.

Burns, who has seven previous national caps, is one of 16 A-League players named in the squad along with all 23 members of the 2014 World Cup squad and seven others, four of whom are uncapped.

“I’m happy with the depth of squad we have been able to name and it is now up to these 46 guys to ensure they are selected in the final squad for the Asian Cup and rise to the challenge ahead,” Postecoglou said.

“We have set about trying to broaden the depth of players and I’m happy with how that has transpired over the last five matches since the World Cup. We have a good group of players to choose from for what will be an exciting time for Australian football.”

Postecoglou went on to say those selected from the fledgling A-League competition would be given equal chance to cement a place in the final squad, despite facing competition from a number of potential Socceroos playing in some of the world’s strongest domestic competitions, including England’s Premier League and Germany’s Bundesliga.

“We still have three or four weeks before we finalise the squad so there is opportunity for all 46 players to push their claims for inclusion in the final list of 23,” he said.

The final Socceroos squad is expected to be named late this month, before Australia takes on Kuwait, Oman and Korea Republic in the group stage on January 9, 13 and 17 respectively.