After eyebrows were raised about Mary Fowler ’s mystery absence from the Matildas’ line-up for their upcoming friendlies, it has now been confirmed that she is in fact in Australia.
The Matildas have some crucial friendlies coming up against Germany and Haiti but yesterday it was revealed she wouldn’t take part due to personal circumstances.
Now, Western Weekender (devoted to Penrith news) deputy editor Nathan Taylor says Fowler is in Australia.
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“Confirmed. Mary Fowler back in Australia, at home with her injured partner Nathan Cleary,” Taylor said on social media.
When news broke about Fowler’s absence, a dash to Australia was mooted as a possible explanation.
Several outlets suggested that Fowler could be heading Down Under to support Cleary, who broke his leg in Penrith’s preliminary final loss to the Knights.
“The decision (for Fowler to miss the friendlies) was made following discussions between Fowler, Manchester City and CommBank Matildas staff,” a Football Australia statement said.
Injury did not appear to be a factor for the Europe-based Fowler to miss the games considering she had just helped City overcome WSL rivals Arsenal (as a substitute) on Monday morning.
Cleary required emergency surgery after a career-threatening ankle injury in late September.
He has also recently had a second surgery but, in welcoming news, Panthers chairman Greg Alexander says the injury is not as bad as first thought.
“In terms of Nathan, the reporting kept saying it was a double fracture (but) it wasn’t a double fracture,” Alexander said on SEN.
“So, the two bones in your legs, fibula and tibia. Tibia is the big one. Fibula is the narrower bone.
“He broke the fibula, the smaller bone. That wasn’t where the compound fracture came (from). The pressure was on the tibia, which wasn’t broken, so it wasn’t a double fracture.
“It pushed the tibia, and it came out (of) his ankle. His ankle came out. So, they showed the ankle bone just popped through the skin because of the pressure put on the tibia.
“The tibia didn’t break, no fracture in the tibia, which was fantastic news. So not a double fracture and not a compound where the bone, the sharp bit of a bone, has come through the skin.
“(However), syndesmosis ruptured, of course.”
Alexander said Cleary had showed him an X-ray of the plate, the pins in the leg and the screws in the ankle.
“We’ve spoken about the syndesmosis injury, so they couldn’t tie it as per a normal syndesmosis, so they screwed it. So the two longer screws go through the ankle to keep the ankle bones together.
“So, in terms of the horrific injury that Nathan suffered, it was as good as could be expected without the double fracture.”
– With AAP
