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I know a little secret. And i'm not sharing.

Happy to be wrong, well kind of. Don't confuse being busy elsewhere for going missing.

I don't think it was ever a question of did something appear amiss at training, more were people making something out of virtually nothing. Sounds like he only just missed out running out, in which case he should be right next week.

The sheer anxiety on the boards was shitting me immensely, however.

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29 different attributes,
And only 7 that you like;
20 ways to see the world,
Or 20 ways to start a fight.

What a weak attempt at self-justification

The "sheer anxiety" was concern that our CHB might be out based on what 3 independent sources said. Seems that concern was well-founded, given that he withdrew and perhaps that cost us the game. Could you name anything that justifies concern more than whether one of our key defenders will be available to tackle Fev and Brown?

And the suggestion that Bower just missed out seems to be simply your attempt to defend your suggestion that the club wouldn't have taken him on the trip if he wasn't fit. Let's see if Bower turns up to training. On your logic, he should be there. And of course we won't have to worry about his fitness for the Essendon* game, will we? Given that you don't like people making something out of nothing, maybe you can tell us all how know that he just missed out.

Maybe if we argue about who was right and who was wrong, it will help him get back on the park.

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Let slip the Blues of war (with apologies to William Shakespeare) (and Sir Francis Bacon, just in case)

Considering we didn't have a replacement tall in the emergencies tells me we erred very late on the side of caution, it helped to lose the game IMO as another option would have been very very handy. Even Hammer in and allowing Waite to stay back more would have been a prudent move. Lets hope we've learnt a lesson.

The original diagnosis from the rumours is 4 weeks, i'll bet its one.

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"I will rejoice in their anguish, delight in their failure and revel in our success"

We are Carlton, @#$%&! the rest !!!!!!

I'm not talking about the actual debate on the Bower rumour, I'm talking about the "oh woe is life" junk posts and the subsequent 3 or 4 rumours that appeared once the drama had died down. Suddenly any rumour was a good rumour. This isn't BigFooty.


http://www.carltonfc.com.au/news/newsar ... fault.aspx



On top of that, Jacobs was the only emergency tall.

_________________
29 different attributes,
And only 7 that you like;
20 ways to see the world,
Or 20 ways to start a fight.

Nothing in that quote says that Bower was a late withdrawal. In fact it suggests the opposite. The injury (suffered last Saturday), hindered pre-game preparation. I'm sure it did. Note he didn't say that the withdrawal ruined the pre-game preparation put into controlling Brown. Instead, he says it wrecked the matchup for which Bower was "earmarked early in the season".

In that context, pre-game is understood to refer to the time between players arriving at the stadium and first bounce. I'd say he had a last-minute fitness test, or the pain only worsened through the warm-up leaving the doctors and physios to make a call.

I'll listen through the press conference and check this.

EDIT: Checked it, he's clearly referring to a pre-match injury, and states he should be ok for Essendon*.

_________________
29 different attributes,
And only 7 that you like;
20 ways to see the world,
Or 20 ways to start a fight.

You might want to dry behind your ears. Ironically, mention is made of Essendon*. Under Sheedy, the Essendon* flu was an industry joke. A player suspected to be missing for 6 weeks with a broken hand would be listed as missing with the flu. Each week, there'd be the same assurance that he'd play as he'd be over his flu. And 6 weeks later, he'd finally get over the flu. Sheedy would never acknowledge that he'd lied about it. When clubs engage in these pre-game games, they don't tend to come out and say that they were bullsh!tting.

BV's source suggested that this was indeed a pre-game ruse which came to naught because the word got out after Saturday's training. I wonder if Ratts will tell us before the Essendon* game that Bower's suffered an aggravation that will keep him out? Interesting that you rely upon Ratts when he did nothing to acknowledge Bower's injury prior to the game this week, but you ignore BV's source who correctly predicted that Bower wouldn't play ...

Yep.
No misplaced anger here.

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That’s not a political statement — it’s a harsh reality, and we must act,” she said. “He is a clear and present danger to the things that keep us strong and free. I support impeachment.”

No, I'd say BS has a bit of a messiah complex. Just what is BS doing to get Bower back on the park more quickly? Praying? Casting spells? Sending his best wishes? Thank the Lord we have someone doing the heavy lifting for us ...

As for me, I'll just assume that nothing I do on a Carlton forum is going to influence Bower's health one little bit. Depressing, but true.

ok.

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That’s not a political statement — it’s a harsh reality, and we must act,” she said. “He is a clear and present danger to the things that keep us strong and free. I support impeachment.”

But the discussion does have some point to it. Jimmae and others trot out the public comments of Ratts and others as though they're scripture. For them, it's sacrilege if someone doesn't accept what's said. How foolish were those who doubted Bower's selection, especially when he was taken up to Brisbane. Yet even when circumstances show the unreliability of the club's public comments and actions, their faith isn't shaken and they continue to rubbish those who wonder if the injury is more serious than suggested.

It all reminds me of Neville Chamberlain waving around his infamous piece of paper as he announced that there'll be peace in our times. The gullible will always be impressed, I guess.

As for me, I'll wait until I see Bower take the field. Until then, it's all up in the air.

Some of us were taken in by Bower's absence from the injuries list published on Tuesday. Should we make the same mistake again when he's declared available this coming Tuesday?

For me, it all comes down to the extent of the injury and if he was never a chance to play.

I'd be bitterly disappointed with all concerned if we've flown an injured player to Bris that was never going to play just to play mind games. Regardless of how important Bower is to our side.

If the injury is not as serious as reported, and he was only ruled out not long before game time as a precaution (noting our 9 day break before our next outing), that to me is a different story.

As such, I for one would like clarity on Bower's status and what the extent of the injury is. As last night showed, we simply can't afford to miss him for any further games.

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We are on our way back...

supercoach?

Actually no. I don't bother with all of that. The Mrs reckons footy and Carlton consume me enough as it is.

Sincerely hope Paul will play against Ess. Must win game imho.

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We are on our way back...

He could have been taken up to give him a holiday and continue team bonding, though, MPH. And the medical advice may have been that there would be little or no impact on his rehab.

We'll never get a straight answer to whether it was a ruse or a late decision. Even if he doesn't play next week, there'll be a supposed reason for that.

There was one example of this sort of game being played on a journo - I think it was Robbo, but I can't recall. He interviewed an assistant coach on radio in the lead-up to a game and enquired whether player X would take the field or be withdrawn through injury. The assistant coach assured him that he would play and he was right as rain. The journo then relied on that as gospel, only to find that the player did pull out. When he interviewed him later, the assistant coach just laughed about it and said that he was only doing what he had to do. Robbo now is guarded about accepting things as gospel, and absolutely no one looks down on a coach or assistant coach who tells porkies. The philosophy is, "Ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies".

Ratts has little to gain or lose once the player is known to be injured, so until the teams were confirmed this wasn't the case, unless the Lions camp was getting intelligence directly from ours.

The reason I was disputing BV's source is because it came incredibly late to the party, by which time word could have filtered down from anywhere as the original, less credited circulation was in full swing. This is not some sort of discrediting of BV or his mates, I just saw it as a 60/40 call in favour of BS given the hoopla. People were drumming up Jamo rumours and the nature of the change from nowhere towards the end.

I'd say it's as simple as Bower was touch and go and it didn't happen. It fits now, because Ratts could not be so thick as to keep pulling the same trick. Using Kevin Sheedy as an example shows an inability to conceive the dozens of different ways he would have been shown up in this day and age.

'Tis the information age after all.

Credit to BV, his mates and the original poster for getting a sniff of this, but it's out in the open now and it would be a complete waste of time to toy with it as though it would affect opposition planning for more than a few extra minutes.

_________________
29 different attributes,
And only 7 that you like;
20 ways to see the world,
Or 20 ways to start a fight.

You underestimate me Jim.
I dont claim things to be fact unless I know them to be so. Yes it was late in the week (Wednesday) but I dont play games based on percentages. I was told by a person involved with the football department that Bower was out and the original diagnosis was 4-6 weeks.
I also stated Jamo was a certainty to play, which he did. If I'm offering an opinion, I'll state it's my opinion. If it's fact, I'll state it as so.

I'm not here to make guesses and pump up my own tyres. I couldn't give a stuff what you or most other posters think of my mail. I'm just passing it on for those that are interested. As for it being known since the weekend, I was told by a forward scout from another club (interstate) that they knew Bower was out Saturday night.
So your guesses (and thats all they are) carry little weight for me when I'm getting informed mail from within the club.

I enjoy your thoughts and opinions on the game but when you make assessments based on little more than arse covering, you're not doing yourself any favours. If you're wrong (and after your mocking comments all day Friday, you obviously were), admit it, move on and let's let this thread die off as it should.

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Looking forward to seeing our potential realised.

This didn't strike me as you stating fact, but if that's what you're saying now, I'm more than happy to go with that. Puts the whole thing in a new light.

If I take that to the letter it's a grade 2 tear, and putting him on a flight while there was still a bleed in his thigh leaves him with an elevated risk of DVT. That's why I'm sticking to the short-term injury idea. Appreciate the clarification BV.

And yes to others who will inevitably chime in, I am aware a domestic flight typically flies at a lower altitude than an international flight where one will see this sort of thing crop up more, and that 3 hours in transit at this lower altitude is probably not going to cause much issue in the average person. But, there was already additional pressures at work in his leg and it's a plausible enough risk to not take it.

_________________
29 different attributes,
And only 7 that you like;
20 ways to see the world,
Or 20 ways to start a fight.