WEST COAST great Dean Kemp believes recruit Sharrod Wellingham could be the key to the Eagles turning around their 1-4 start to the season and re-entering the premiership race.
Wellingham made his return from an ankle injury with WAFL club East Perth on Anzac Day, winning 28 possessions to suggest he will make his Eagles debut against the Western Bulldogs on Sunday.
The former Magpie, who was part of Collingwood's 2010 premiership side, enjoyed a strong pre-season before he damaged ankle ligaments when he landed awkwardly bouncing on a trampoline in late February.
Kemp said the 24-year-old would be a significant inclusion for an Eagles midfield that had been shown up for pace and was lacking intensity.
"I think he's going to play a really important role for us once he gets into the team, hopefully this week," Kemp told AFL.com.au.
"I reckon he's really going to add a bit of inside grunt to us and a bit of protection that some of those younger guys in there are needing at the moment."
Kemp, who was a key member of West Coast's 1992 and 1994 premiership sides, is a mentor to a number of the Eagles' young midfielders and he said a lack of intensity was the biggest issue they needed to turn around.
The 1994 Norm Smith medallist said the onball group had leg speed, it just wasn't being utilised.
"Guys like Luke Shuey, when they get the ball and carry it they look really good and fast, but at the moment we don't seem to be carrying the ball as much," Kemp said.
"When you don't carry the ball and break lines it makes you look slow.
"I don't know whether that's because we're not getting the ruck taps or dominating the ruck like we have in the past, but it's definitely affecting the way they're going."
West Coast led by 41 points against Port Adelaide 19 minutes into the third quarter on Saturday night but gave up that lead as the Power surged with their midfield run.
As coach John Worsfold acknowledged post-match: "When they started to get their running game going they cut through us".
Midfielder Matt Rosa, who has recovered from thigh surgery, is another likely inclusion this week as the Eagles set about reviving their season in a winnable stretch of four games.
They face the Bulldogs (Patersons Stadium), Brisbane Lions (Gabba), North Melbourne (Patersons Stadium) and Greater Western Sydney (Skoda Stadium) in the next month.
It is a crucial stretch of games that will either set the Eagles back on track or end their finals chances altogether.
In the past 20 years six teams have recovered from 1-4 to play finals, with Geelong finishing fourth in 2004 and St Kilda making the Grand Final in 1997.
North Melbourne (1975) and Melbourne (1900) are the only teams to have started 1-4 and gone on to win the premiership.
Kemp said the Eagles prospects could be looking much better in a month, with star ruckman Nic Naitanui (groin) also due to resume within that time.
"We definitely need to win these next four games and against those opponents we should win them all," Kemp said.
"At the start of the season we were hopeful we were going to be a top four team, so these next four weeks are really important.
"It'll definitely give us a good indication of where we're at and in a month's time everything could be turned around."
Nathan Schmook is a reporter for AFL Media. Follow him on Twitter: @AFL_Nathan
