Cue Kewell, unlikely saviour of sorry season Harry Kewell. These days I often imagine that somewhere in a lifesize case in a back office at Melbourne Heart's La Trobe University offices stands Harry Kewell, his body encased behind the protective glass front. That glass case, stored carefully in a corner (obscured by foam packing so as to provide even more protection for the fragile contents) bears the legend: "Only to be opened in case of emergency." Use of such voluble equipment is not something that can be undertaken lightly. It carries risks and brings dangers of its own. But the situation is so dire that beleaguered Heart coach John Aloisi has no option but to swing the axe, crack the case and liberate Harry in the hope he can come to the rescue. Will the Socceroo veteran's powers be great enough to dig the struggling team out of its hole at the foot of the A-League table? Can the man once dubbed the greatest player in Australian soccer history prove himself a saviour in the most unlikely of circumstances? Can pigs fly? Let's just say that it's unlikely, although in the wild and sometimes wacky world of the A-League nothing can be ruled out. So expect Kewell to have a positive, if perhaps limited, influence for Heart if, as expected, he returns to action on Sunday against another team in an almost equally hapless position - Adelaide United, with one-time Barcelona youth coach Josep Gombau at the helm. Aloisi's situation has been discussed ad nauseam in recent weeks, but less talked about has been the disastrous season endured by Kewell. Brought into a struggling club to provide it with leadership - he was quickly made captain - some on-field smarts and, hopefully, a bit of box office glitz, Kewell has provided almost nothing. The club says it is not paying him much more than the basic wage, which is a good thing, as his contribution so far has barely merited that. It's not all his fault though. No one could have predicted the whiplash injury sustained in the first-round draw with Melbourne Victory that laid him low for several weeks. Just when he was ready to return, he injured an ankle in training and has been absent since. That's seven games, for one 70-minute cameo, though he did look one of the more effective performers in that drab stalemate with Victory and shaped as though he could be an influential playmaker. It's a testament to how good Kewell actually was in his heyday - and those best years were more than a decade ago as an adventurous and superbly skilled winger with Leeds United - that he is still held in such high regard by so many, particularly those who don't follow the game too closely. If they did, they would know he has barely kicked a ball in competitive action in the past 18 months. The lustre has gone and it is instructive how rarely his name is thrown up these days. Kewell's determination to continue playing is admirable. I am not one to argue that players should go out at the top to avoid sullying their brilliant careers; if someone wants to continue playing and is good enough to warrant a place in the side, then go for it, even if they must drop down a few divisions to do so. But is Kewell still good enough for the A-League? Given what he has achieved that probably sounds like an insulting question. But at 35, with his battered body preventing him from showing it so far this year, it's a question that needs to be asked. Let's hope he can take to the field on Sunday and provide us with some answers. Whether he will be able to do enough to save Aloisi's coaching career is a moot point, but there would never be a better time for a former Socceroo to step forward and help out an old mate.