At 31 years of age, Tommy Walsh is Kerry's most experienced forward. Going into the All-Ireland final on Sunday, Michael Quinlivan said he is their most important player in attack.
Speaking on Friday's OTB AM, both Quinlivan and Kieran Donaghy said they think the Tralee man should start on Sunday.
"The biggest thing is that he is the foil for [Michael] Geany and [David] Clifford.
"If you're Dublin and you see him going into your full-back line he's immediately the first person to give a job to one of your players or try to make a plan for.
"He allows the other forwards a little a bit more freedom. If he is not in there it's immediately two forwards and your whole plan is to stop the two of them only," Quinlivan said.
The Tipperary footballer also spoke about how Walsh changes Kerry's approach to the game tactically when he plays.
"If he plays as the deepest one inside winning ball, you saw that Clifford kicked two brilliant points off him in the semi-final.
"He poses Dublin a problem because of the quality of the player either side of him. It's very tough to get on top of three of them and it would make a huge difference to Kerry," he said.
Attacking outlet
Kieran Donaghy also spoke about how important Tommy is to Kerry and how he has saved them in previous games.
"Tommy is going to go up there and take an awful lot of the heat off Clifford and Geaney and all of a sudden he wins a few balls, the boys pop over a few points.
"You saw against Tyrone they were really struggling and he just gave them that outlet," Donaghy said.
Against Dublin, Donaghy believes that Walsh could be crucial for Kerry because he would give them a real physical presence in the forward line.
"The biggest thing you need against Dublin is size and presence and I think physicality will be huge in this game on Sunday.
"He's [Walsh] so physically strong that if he gets a hand on you and goes, he's lethal.
"He played basketball as a kid, I coached him and I remember in a game they had five guys on him, so he had to be able to spot a pass," the former Kerry footballer said.
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