If you were watching the Socceroos for the first time in their opening World Cup Qualifier against Thailand you could be forgiven for underestimating the importance of Tim Cahill to the national team in recent years.

Watching live at Suncorp, I made the comment that I had an uneasy feeling Tim, goalscorer extraordinaire, national hero and all-round good guy, could become redundant for the national team if a certain theme continued.

The excruciating amount of bland, lofted crosses into the penalty has been addressed enough in the days since, but I can assure you it wasn’t just a tactic tailored only to the needs of Josh Kennedy. Time after time I could glance forward from the half-way line where the ball was being knocked around and notice Cahill drifting into the penalty area – without contributing to the suffering build-up play – eventually into the same space Kennedy was occupying.

Now all this may seem as though I’m attacking Tim Cahill’s role in the team. Quite the opposite. A young upstart like me wouldn’t dare.

What should be agreed upon is that Tim Cahill is being criminally underused in the matches that matter; not entirely his own fault and not entirely the fault of his teammates either.

Tim, at least in my mind, can undoubtedly be an effective contributor to the Socceroos more cultured attacking moves, which are becoming increasingly frequent when Brett Holman and Matt McKay are at their best. But it seems as though no-one in the national camp, not even Tim himself, is convinced, despite solid evidence coming as recently as last month against Wales.

A telling factor has of course been the simplistic view that a football in the air should equal an instant goal for Australia against the Asian nations. Fortunately Holger Osieck seems to have learned his lesson far quicker than Verbeek did and will utilise our growing array of individual and collective talents in the final third. What this means for the role of Tim Cahill is surprisingly clear: you cannot afford to keep a guy on the pitch without maximising his personal output and expect your team to reach its full potential.

The following qualifier against Saudi Arabia indicates the greatest conundrum in all this is that our most creative outlet, Brett Holman (incredible, huh?), operates best centrally, but I’m confident if it’s moved around on the deck his influence won’t be curtailed by playing on the left – perhaps even allowing McKay to move centrally alongside a Valeri, Jedinak or Williams.

For this to happen, however, there needs to be faith in Cahill’s ability to do more than win headers and be a threat inside the penalty area. I think Tim needs to remind himself at times that he’s more than capable on the ball.

I suspect Osieck, if he hasn’t already, will soon need to confirm in his own mind whether the legendary no.4 is capable of contributing to a healthy variety of attacks, or whether he assumes the role of supersub. We simply have more strength in depth these days than to carry a one-dimensional player, even if it is Super Tim.

... Can a supersub retain their place until Brazil 2014?