Nothing. One of us accepts that the club has in the past released statements about Walsh's return which have proved inaccurate. One of us doesn't. One of us, as a result, exercises reasonable doubt about the accuracy of future statements. The other acts like a fly banging against a window, being equally surprised every time it gets cracked on the head.

Are you being deliberately obtuse!? They have explained why those statements turned out to be inaccurate you muppet!!

Superb.

I'm with you in your growing skepticism (even if I spell it differently). I think Saints have now made three announcements on his return, two of which have proven inaccurate for whatever reason. It would have been better had they said nothing other than 'he's making progress' given that we were all prepared at the end of last season for him to be out for some of this season too.

As for Lomax ... it would be a real shame if his dodgy knees meant the end of his rugby career, especially given the courage he showed after his head injury as a youngster. But on both occasions of his injury to this knee it just gave way under him without any challenge so clearly there is a real problem there, whatever it is. Either way the club will be making back up plans I'm sure.

Makinson looks good at fullback and it was his position of preference. It's easier to bring in a young back on the wing first than at fullback, and we won't be able to find anyone externally at this stage of the season I shouldn't think anyway. Given that Wello has already suffered an injury I'm not sure we will be able to rely upon him to cover as we did last season. I'm not sure we should either; we should be seeking to move on from him as he won't be on the field next year anyway.

I think, for the second time on this thread, you haven't discerned the meaning of my words. We'll leave it there. You should perhaps be a bit slower to throw around personal insults when all someone is doing is offering a perfectly reasonable alternative view to your own.

I'm thinking some people will believe what they want to believe just because when it comes to Walsh, regardless of empircal evidence is put in front of them.

Walshs current return date is the second week in April. Yes, he might fall in the shower tomorrow and re-break it leading to another 6 months out. That doesn't make the first statement any less true, it just means new circumstances. I'm not sure why that's hard to follow...

What do we as fans want? Club statements that read more akin to legal papers?

I think there's an issue of cause and causality here.

As YG (and myself) are aware, the information saints have previously put out about Walsh was true at the time, there's a possibility that he falls tomorrow, re breaks it and doesn't play again. However, that's somewhat unlikely, certainly no more likely than any other player. That doesn't mean that Saints were wrong when they said he could make the start of the season, and the invalidity of that statement is no basis to assume of further false statements by saints.

Thank you. You're spot on. It really isn't difficult to understand.

It isn't perfectly reasonable though. It's ignorant, stubborn and extremely frustrating.

It'll be interesting to see the squad when named tomorrow. We're gonna have to play a forwards game, and hopefully tire them out up the middle, with no proper halves.

No. And I haven't accused Saints of wilfully false statements. However, nor is the invalidity of previous statements, or any genuine intent behind them, a basis to assume that further statements must therefore come to pass.

There are only two positions here :

1) Previous statements, although well intentioned, proved inaccurate. I have some doubt about current predictions proving accurate. I hope they do, but past events suggest unreliability of such predictions.
2) Previous statements, although well intentioned, proved inaccurate. I am absolutely certain that the current prediction will prove accurate. Anyone who thinks otherwise must be an idiot.

Personally, I don't think position (1) is unreasonable. Jumping up and down shouting at people who express that view suggests a lack of perspective.

I see. Well, let's hope your absolute confidence is better placed than the club's earlier confidence.

I have to say Roy, the assumption here is that Saints first statements were inaccurate.

The point being made against your assumption is that they were not inaccurate.

for example

I will be in work tomorrow. This is an accurate statement.
However, in the morning I find that my car does not start, or I crash the car. Then I will be late or not make work at all.

It does not make the original statement inaccurate. It means the orginal statement did not account for all possibilities.

There is a difference. An inaccurate statement would suggest either incompetance or misleading tendancies.
Where as the others are arguing it was not inaccurate, it was accurate at the time.

To be fair the club generally get asked by the press when will Walsh be back and they say 2nd Week of April.

It's a simple question with a simple answer.

What you are adovcating is a different response to casual questioning.

When is Walsh back?
Walsh is due back on the 2nd Week of April.
We have rated this at 70% likely to be back on this date, the other 30% takes into account
A 10% chance that his fitness is not up to speed and so may not be able to last a full match
A 5% chance that his injury under duress may break again
There is a 2% chance that another player will keep him out of the team due to form
Then we have the following that Walsh's
Odds of getting canonized: 20,000,000 to 1
Odds of injury from fireworks: 19,556 to 1
Odds of injury from shaving: 6,585 to 1
Odds of injury from using a chain saw: 4,464 to 1
Odds of injury from mowing the lawn: 3,623 to 1
Odds of fatally slipping in bath or shower: 2,232 to 1
Odds of drowning in a bathtub: 685,000 to 1
Odds of being killed on a 5-mile bus trip: 500,000,000 to 1
Odds of being killed sometime in the next year in any sort of transportation accident: 77 to 1
Odds of being killed in any sort of non-transportation accident: 69 to 1
Odds of being struck by lightning: 576,000 to 1
Odds of being killed by lightning: 2,320,000 to 1
Odds of being murdered: 18,000 to 1
Odds of being considered possessed by Satan: 7,000 to 1
Odds of getting hemorrhoids: 25 to 1

These odds are Saints best calculation at this time of Walsh coming back on the 2nd Week in April and are subject to change as are all things and by tomorrow the odds will have shortened or lengthened dependant on many factors some stated here and some not. etc etc etc


When we are asking any question about the future. Any answer is open to chance and risk, in which case you have to assume it is beholdant on the user of that information to take into account that other possibilities exist.

As you can see, in the end the answer 2nd week of April is an off the cuff comment and does not give a full answer as a full answer would require a full legal document every time a simple question is asked.

Don't Fancy them odds much