The Socceroos survived one of the worst halves of the Ange Postecoglou era to draw 1-1 with Japan but Australia's coach must consider dumping the diamond midfield in the bin.
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Kruse came on just after Jedinak's goal and immediately Postecoglou's side looked more dangerous.
The draw saw Australia continue their unbeaten start to the Asian Football Confederation's third phase of World Cup qualifying, keeping them on top of Group B ahead of Saudi Arabia versus United Arab Emirates later on Tuesday.
Postecoglou has included all three of his playmakers - Tom Rogic, Aaron Mooy and Massimo Luongo - in his starting XI for Australia's opening two home games in this phase of Russia 2018 qualifying and it hasn't worked well.
Against Japan in Melbourne on Tuesday night, the formation led to a pedestrian first half from the Socceroos, who went into the interval 1-0 down.
Japan took the lead in the fifth minute with a stray pass from Trent Sainsbury leading to a counterattack that saw Keisuke Honda tee up Genki Haraguchi to slide the ball through Mat Ryan's legs and into the net.
While the introduction of Robbie Kruse early in the second half saw a much improved version of the 4-4-2 diamond, there is growing evidence that Australia can't afford to play Rogic, Mooy and Luongo together.
Australia needed a 52nd-minute penalty to pick up a point at Etihad Stadium, with captain Mile Jedinak converting from the spot after Haraguchi knocked Tomi Juric over in the box.
The inherent weakness of the diamond midfield is its lack of width.
It relies on either the full-backs to push forward to stretch the opposition's defence or the pair of strikers to make inside-out runs towards the sidelines.
In the first half against Japan, neither of these things happened.
Forward duo Juric and Apo Giannou aren't power runners and wanted to stay central, while full-backs Brad Smith and Ryan McGowan weren't particularly adventurous.
It didn't help that the home side struggled to string four passes together.
While the Socceroos' equaliser came before Kruse was brought on, Australia looked much more dangerous once the Bayer Leverkusen winger joined Juric up front.
Kruse's willingness to start from a wider position and make runs down the sidelines provided more space for Luongo and Rogic to push forward, and Japan struggled with the increased movement.
The Socceroos would have to be happy with a point considering how poorly they played in the first half, plus Japan had a number to top chances late in the match on the counterattack, with Ryan making a brilliant save with 16 minutes left.
Saudi Arabia (10 points, 4 games) lead Australia (8, 4), Japan (7, 4), Saudi Arabia (7, 3), UAE (6, 4), Iraq (3,4) and Thailand (0,4).
The next World Cup qualifier for Australia will be away to Thailand on November 15.
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