DOM Sheed allowed himself a wry smile after West Coast’s pulsating qualifying final win over Collingwood at Optus Stadium last Saturday night.

“It’s funny how footy can turn for you so quickly,” Sheed said.

The 23-year-old had just produced his best finals display with 27 disposals at 85 per cent efficiency, seven clearances, six inside 50s and a goal.

But he so easily might not have even been in the team.

He may have been watching from the stands had Andrew Gaff not been under suspension for punching Fremantle’s Andrew Brayshaw in the round 20 western derby.

Before that incident, Sheed’s season had not quite got going.

The 11th pick in the 2013 national draft and Larke medallist had just been dropped for the third time, but Gaff’s eight-week suspension gave him yet another opportunity. And the evidence from the past four games would suggest the left footer is determined not to waste it.

“I’ve been building,” Sheed said. “I know I can play my role for the team in finals now.

“Not do anything special, just go out and play predictable footy for the team. That helps a lot.

“I’m happy I’m back in and in unfortunate circumstances obviously, but happy I’m back in and playing my role for the team at the pointy end of the season.

“Gaffy has come back to the club and he has helped us midfielders out and he’s in really good spirits. We’ll rally around him and he’ll help us as much as he can.

“My role hasn’t changed. It’s been the same all year. I think I’m just playing off more confidence and more instinct now.

“I probably wasn’t doing that midway through the year.

“Sam Mitchell has been really good for me as a midfield coach and all the boys as well. That’s the thing about playing in a top-four team, you are only two bad games off being dropped so that’s a good problem to have for the match committee.”

Coach Adam Simpson denied they had mishandled Sheed, given he has averaged close to 28 disposals since his return in round 21.

“At the midway point of the year there was, I think, seven or eight midfielders playing well and only six or seven spots so in the end it came down to who deserved their spot and Dom wasn’t in that mix,” Simpson told 6PR.

“He wasn’t playing poorly, but he just wasn’t playing as well as Jack Redden or Mark Hutchings, who was playing his role.

“So he got squeezed out and he had to work on his form.

“He had a few opportunities in that period and he didn’t take them and then he got a real

opportunity for a number of weeks when Gaffy went down with that report and suspension.

“We are really proud of what he’s done. He’s been really important for us in the last month and I’m really proud that he’s played a really good game on a big stage.”

Sheed and his teammates will need to get past Hawthorn or Melbourne to make it back to the MCG.

Sheed was only 20 in 2015 when West Coast lost the Hawks in the grand final. He had 11 disposals that day, but insists much has changed.

“That was a long time ago now,” Sheed said. “We had a lot of different players and a completely different team and game style so it’s a great feeling at the moment.

“The boys are excited and up and about so we’ll take the rest and prepare for a home prelim.”