The point where he is ‘completely healthy’ (as you put it) is not a black line that is easily identified. It is a ‘best assessment’ based on numerous things. The condition itself is known to be intermittent, persistent, and extremely difficult to treat.
That’s not quite right though, is it?
You are assuming that Richardson’s comment was made to assuage media/supporters, and not made based on the very reviews you are calling for.
The problem is not what the club says or does and doesn’t say or doesn’t do, the issue is that some will constantly make assumptions and run with a narrative that suits them.
The way i see it (my speculation, opinion), is he was given almost a year to recover. It didn’t work. At some stage they had to throw him back in. A year is a long time. If they built him up slowly through the VFL this season and then played him for the last half, we wouldn’t know he was still cooked until the end of the year. He could have been locked in for surgery at that point and missed the first half of next season. If he didn’t recover after a whole year how long should they have kept “managing” him?
I think at this stage we’re lucky he’s booked in for surgery so early this year and should be good for pre-season, unless his problem is i one that just can’t be fixed.
Anyway my big worry is that this is just another example of the club not getting something right and not asking hard questions of itself. I would have thought off the back of the saga the club would have an ingrained and entrenched culture of questioning everything. But what we have seen over the past couple of seasons this doesn’t appear to be the case. How we can start consecutive seasons underprepared is just shameful and disappointing.
Maybe, but perception is a massive thing. The fact the club is a midtable rabble that refuses to publicly ask hard questions of itself makes it very easy to jump to this conclusion.
I would like to understand how you really think the club is performing at the moment. Is everything fine and we are on the right path? Because if you think we are I would really like to understand how and why you believe that to be the case.