(or any sport, i guess)

is it an exact science?

manager intuition?

player feeling?

mix of all three?

do they just say, 'well, he hasn't played for a bit, he probably shouldn't until we've made him run up the big hill a few times'

how can someone categorically say that someone is/isn't ready to take part in a professional game?

what is the process?

surely, you only really know once they've tried to play.

thoughts.