Sam Kerr has shown it's time for her to be restored to her customary starting role as Chelsea's top striker as she came off the bench to dominate Brighton and help the English champions to a 3-0 win away.
It's now two years since the Matildas great started a Women's Super League (WSL) match for the Blues after she was left to warm the bench again by Chelsea boss Sonia Bompastor.
But the way she helped reinvigorate Chelsea in the second half at Brighton's Broadfield Stadium demonstrated that Bompastor must surely employ the 32-year-old more after the winter break if they're to win the league for the seventh successive season.
They go into the break six points adrift of leaders Manchester City, who beat Aston Villa 6-1 with four goals from Jamaican star Khadija Shaw.
Without Kerr on the field, the stuttering champs again looked toothless up front in the first 45 minutes, with only a remarkable solo run and shot from French fullback Sandy Baltimore just before the break giving them a half-time lead.
Once Kerr and Wieke Kaptein had been brought on for the second half, though, Chelsea looked like a different team up front, with the Matildas star bringing more of a robust physical presence and directness than Aggie Beever-Jones.
The only frustration for Kerr once again was that she didn't end up on the scoresheet herself, having had one rasping shot and a superb diving header kept out by Brighton's busy keeper Sophie Baggaley.
Kerr's now scored just four goals in 16 matches for club and country since her comeback in September from the ACL injury that kept her out for so long. In 11 of those matches, though, Kerr has been a substitute.
Elsewhere in the WSL, West Ham's Australian captain Katrina Gorry was left ruing a missed late chance, which could have given her side victory in the foot-of-the-table clash against Liverpool. It ended 2-2 with Liverpool still bottom on three points and the Hammers a place above on five.
AAP