The Warriors to be fair have been excellent in their management of injuries since Webster took over.
I have a medical background (not as high as a Doctor lol so not pretending to be Doctor know it all but I have degrees and nearly three decades in health science so not a guy making stuff up out of the ether either).
To answer your question. why the F would the Warriors bring SJ back injured requires a long post because as with all medical discussion it is a mixture of 'it depends' and a case by case basis.
Bear in mind that older players like Johnson on year by year contracts are judged medically in terms of their ready to play status differently than other staff. Compared to a young man you are signing for three or more years, someone you can park on the sideline and not worry about, Johnson is on a one year leash. Meaning his value to the organization is week by week and therefore someone you force to give you a good week here and there while they are in their potentially last ever season.
Ergo it makes zero sense to park someone like Johnson until they achieve perfect health if they only have potentially six months or less of football left in their legs (for medical reasons that will not change no matter whether you play him or not) you might as well run them injured and Nurse them through their injuries week by week and see how much juice you can get out of the tank.
And this week by week thing is very much where the management of Johnson has been since he returned to the Warriors. This is a guy who only had one season on his contract last year. Almost won Dally M and was only given one year after those heights....because our medicos are telling Webster he is going to fall apart no matter what the club does, father time is stalking him hard.
Lets remind ourselves that he was let go by the Sharks because he was older and suffering injuries.
And this is the exact same context in which the Sharks let Metcalf go.
While both players are at the opposite ends of their arc health and age wise, the Warriors medicos looked at their health history and signed off on trialing both 'medically retired' reject halves of the Sharks.
So consider the Sharks Medicos did not want to take on Metcalfs chronic hamstring injuries and consider that the Warriors medical unit got stuck into it boots and all.
In Metcalfs case the Warriors medicos employed a bio mechanics PHD to retrain him in his gait, his stride, the way he runs, the very thing the Sharks should have tried when Metcalf had that first hammy injury, but we took it on after multiple chronic problems and managed him onto the field, some will dismiss this and say the Sharks were right we are wrong, but as someone interested in health science, I find it incredible that we re trained a player from Australia into how to run.
Even if the Metcalf experiment fails, you can bank on him recommending the Warriors to any Shark that texts him in future about a Warriors offer they recieved.
Getting back to Johnson, since the start of last season the Warriors have been managing his groin injury (long term, will not go away no matter how much he rests or rehabs) this is why Johnson our best goal kicker is not allowed to kick goals.
The Warriors medicos deserve medals for working with that issue and banning his goal kicks, a success story in injury management that almost saw a player in their absolute last run of games almost win Dally M injured.
The Achilles Webster mentions with Shaun was picked up in preseason, so this is now a discussion about how our medicos are managing old legs with a permanent groin issue, and a ankle that is stuffed, yet they get him out there week in week out. So this should help fans understand why Webster has SJ playing in a relative dinner suit and bombing on the last like a robot...because Webster knows he has an old man with buggered legs who is still the best kicker in the Warriors Roster. I feel sorry for Webster that Fans think this sport is as simple as pick my player not yours coach.
The fact Webster wakes up to every day is that If SJ stops playing injured he will never pull on a Warriors jumper ever again.
All that aside, the medical case that is my all time favorite in following the Warriors is how they recovered Mitch Barnett who has a neck so bad that he is at risk of Quadriplegia, yet the Warriors nursed him back off a crusher and took their time (there were reports he bounced back right away, but the Warriors pulled him till they could run a full rehab assessment of his neck).
I have been the Warriors medical set ups biggest critic since 95. True story, I could rant about all the screw ups and medical mishap, it stuns me that a few players I saw did not sue the club.
SJ is being played because he is getting through three simple tests while injured, a speed metric, a strength metric, and a flexibility metric.
The Hamstring is a worry, not because it is a hamstring, but because Johnson has been playing on borrowed time for about three years.
Given everything we know it will be a miracle if Johnson ever plays in the NRL again.
lastly, you guys do realise that Doctors and NRL coaches ask patients if they are up to play first?
And that the patients feedback from that question is basically king...which is why your Doctor has let you go back to work when you wanted to and your doctor was not so keen?
There is no Universe where Shaun Johnson said he was not medically ready to go while carrying an injury and was forced to play by Andrew Webster. That crap happens at other clubs and the Warriors have been guilty of it in the past too.
But not anymore, the signs are all there that we have among the best Doctors, Physios, and dietitians in the NRL just now.
