Can the man dubbed the greatest in Australian football history prove a saviour in the most unlikely of circumstances? Can pigs fly? Let's say 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 the Heart, if as expected he returns to action on Sunday afternoon against another team in an almost equally hapless position, Adelaide United, with former Barcelona youth coach Josep Gombau now at the helm. Judging by what we have seen so far, if the Catalan revolution is going to take hold at the Hindmarsh school of tiki-taka it's got a long way to go, but that's another story. Only a clash with the equally lowly Wellington (like Heart, the proud possessor of two priceless points) could, on paper, be a less inspiring fixture. Aloisi's situation has been discussed ad nauseam recently, 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, he has provided almost nothing.

The Heart say they are not paying him much more than the basic wage; a good thing, as his contribution has barely merited that. It's not all his fault: no one could have predicted the whiplash injury sustained in the first-round draw with Melbourne Victory, which laid him low for several weeks. Then just as he was ready to return he injured an ankle at training and has been an absentee since. That's seven games, one 70-minute cameo. In his defence, he did look one of the more effective performers in that drab opening-night stalemate with Victory and shaped as though he could be an influential playmaker. But until now we haven't been able to find out because, like so often in the past, he hasn't played. It's testament to how good Kewell actually was in his heyday – more than a decade ago, as an adventurous and superbly skilled winger with then-rampaging Leeds United – that he is still held in such high regard by so many, particularly those who don't follow football too closely. If they did they would know he has barely kicked a ball in competitive action in the past 18 months.

There hasn't really been an Australian football celebrity like Kewell, who when he signed for Melbourne Victory two years ago, was considered so great a drawcard he could negotiate a deal to be paid bonuses based on the extra tickets sold to punters coming to watch him rather than the team. But the lustre has gone and it is instructive how rarely his name gets thrown up these days, even by people who are keen football fans. Kewell's determination to keep on playing is admirable. I am never one to argue players should go out at the top and not sully the memory of their brilliant careers. If someone wants to continue playing and warrants a place in the side, then go for it: even if it means they have to drop down a few divisions to do so. Is Harry 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 and bruised body preventing him from showing it so far this year, it's one that needs to be asked.

Let's hope he can take the field on Sunday and provide 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 one old Socceroo to step forward and help out an old mate in his moment of greatest need.