I had OP for 13 months, and know for a fact that you can't get no where even close to half near your best (hardly makes sense i know). Generally for OP in males, they tend to get a muscle imbalance where by the Hip Flexor muscles become increasingly powerful and pull at undesirable angles on the Pelvis. therefore getting severe inflammation in certain areas of the pelvis, particularly the Pubic Symphysis. and in worst cases shifting the bones marginally, the pubic symphysis This is the ligaments in between where the pelvis meets at the bottom. and it is not a joint designed for movement.
The idea is that the TA muscles (transverse abdominus) are muscles that need to get stronger in order to iron out the imbalance. The problem being that the TA musckes are postural muscle and therefore high % slow twitch fibres meaning that the power they can generate is minimal. So you have to work extremely hard to gain minimul results with them, and on top of this the TA is extremely hard to isolate. Many core stability exercises utilise the Hip flexor muscles if not done exactly 100% correctly so we just find ourselves going around in circles. The hip flexor muscles on the other hand are those used for movement and made for power/speed etc. (the maximal power of these obviously varies from person to person) Bally was a known sprinting athlete in his school days, so it is fair to say he will have a high % fast twitch muscle fibres in the Hip flexor region. meaning they would be more powerful than the average joe. Running, Swimming, Cycling, all utilise and get power from you Hip Flexors, so Rest is the only way to stop it from getting worse or staying bad. as every exercise will innervate the Hip Flexors, making them stronger and growing each time you exercise. So until he is under control, these are out, which makes it extremely hard to keep fit i know, but the best way to go about it. Light walking won't be too bad, and is good to maintain some activity and keep the pounds off.
It is still possible to manage OP to a degree where you are able to play. But I have no doubt Bally is only at about 50-60% capacity. WIth OP you find it increasingly difficult to Sprint, Take off, Change Directions, and Kick. Each time you may only get 40% firing of required motor units. This can be due to either the Pain factor, or the Fear of the pain factor.
The only way to Rid OP is
-REST
-ICING/ANTI-INLAM methods on the affected area(yes ice on the pubic symphysis is not the most enjoyable thing in life.
-STRETCHING
-CORRECT core Stability and TA postural exercises.
I would say that Bally playing out the remaining 3 games isn't going to cause major further damage, if we lose 1 more, put him on ice, and have him 100% ready and probably fitter than ever before by round 8 next season, conservative I know, but unless he is 100% ready (by conservative measures) he won't get fixed, the thing with these sorts of injuries is they aren't one whereby you can keep playing and slowly get better.
Remeber the blokes still got 7 years ahead of him.