Very much agree with all of that. They could have just not said anything until they were [iabsolutely[/i sure but it would probably have come out on twitter anyway, either from the player himself or from a friend, so what would have been the point.

When someone does something like Heath did Theres always alot of swelling and hard to be sure from X-rays if it is broken or not! I suspect this is the case and the club issued a worse case scenario and can always back track from that. I'd have been more down hearted if they had said he had ligament damage and then said he broken it other than vice versa!

Check out what the club actually said.

"...further tests revealed...".

As in "after not being satisfied with the original diagnosis we were presented with", might you surmise?

I do wish some folk would not be so eager to jump to conclusions!

There is a lot of confusion about this. The time frame will have been something like this, given when info came out.

Sat night - Significant swelling, xray not done as too late, put into precautionary cast although Bulls medical staff quite optimistic.

Sun - Xray done, must be a subtle sign of a fracture on xray, difficult to be sure, cast is kept on. MRI recommended to confirm.

Mon - MRI done, fracture ruled out, ligament damage(which doesn't show on xray) is now detailed. Treatment plan organised. Bulls medical staff initial diagnosis confirmed

I rather think you are pretty close with that analysis.

That sounds about what would have happened!

Let's look forward to him getting fit and getting back on the field!

Are you working with me in CT Saturday morning?

Now the dust has settled, something I suggest for some people to think about.

Those people on here who played up at the club for putting out an update as soon as they were in a position to, and then revising that update after further scans had been carried out because of reservations about the in initial diagnosis: would you have been having a go at the club had they instead not issued any update to the fans until Tuesday? Given they knew the fans were very concerned about Heath having seen what happened, and were desperate for an update (as evidenced on here)?

I would expect the club to be feeling very much that they are damned if they do and damned if they don't here.

We can't have it both ways, guys. If we want timely updates (and I suspect that is the desire of most fans) then we have to accept that - in some cases - releasing updates quickly might mean subsequent revision is required should further facts become available. Through no fault of the club. And I think you will find that neither club nor player were in any way at fault in this instance, and I have validation of that from outside the club too.

If people attack or deride the club in such circumstances, that could well (I choose my words deliberately and with care) lead to the club considering saying bollox to this, we'll either wait till there is no chance of the situation changing before releasing anything, or we'll not bother trying to keep the fans informed at all if we just get derided. I'm sure none of us would want to see that, so think on?

I honestly can't see how they'd feel any other. Regardless of what route they take, it seems someone criticises them for it. Even if somehow everyone on here leaves them alone, there's usually one or two muppets on the T&A Forum that'll have a go at them over whatever it was.

I understand what your saying Adey but if your agreeing with Highlanders sequence of events then surely it would have been better for them to say suspected broken ankle after initial scans but further scans should hopefully reveal the full extent?

Then they are giving people who get in a pi$$ about it the best of both worlds.

I have criticised how they have given us inaccurate time scales for the injuries that people have picked up but it doesn't really bother me when its announced it was the fact someone was 50/50 midweek and then turn out to be out for 4-6 weeks a few days later that annoyed me. Now i'm no doctor but surely someone got something wrong there? If I told my boss I would have something done maybe by the weekend then come friday I said oh no its gonna be 4 weeks now then I would be in for a bit of a bollocking!!!!

Some people automatically assumed that the club got it wrong. Seems to be the case so often.

Why didn't those people admit the possibility that maybe it was the original doctor who got it wrong? That maybe after the initial x-rays (X-rays are not "scans"icon_wink.gif where a double fracture was concluded, the club engaged a specialist to determine the prognosis for "his fractured ankle" and that specialist was instead unconvinced with the diagnosis and so commissioned "further tests" - i.e. an MRI scan, they never said "further scans" - which revealed the correct nature of the injury and enabled an updated prognosis to be issued?

At the point of engaging the specialist, the player would have been given a "double fracture" diagnosis by a doctor, based on the evidence available to him. What would you have expected the club to have said other than what they did???

Regarding any 50/50 becoming 4-6 weeks, two observations there:

1 - could always be mind games to make the opposition have to prepare for the possibility of x playing, so making their job harder. Would we object to that?

2 - more likely, you rate someone 50/50 before you see how thet stand up to full training sessions, only to then see the player break down in training and do more damage. That happens more often than you might think, from what I understand. In such cases, the club is damned if they do and damned if they don't again?

all a storm in a teacup, IMO.

the club have kept us informed every step of the way and they didn't have to do that so fair play to them.

the bottom line is Heath still won't be available in the near future and who is to say nothing else will happen in training before he comes back? Take the news as it comes and when he gets back to playing is the time to be excited. I personally don't understand the ing and moaning of some about this.

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Very true! Can't wait to see Briggs, Herbert and L'Estrange back in bulls colours!