Palm Beach footballer Heath Finnigan speaks about breaking his leg in the Gold Coast Premier League final against Southport

“I saw it (the leg) going the wrong way. I was in a stupid amount of pain.” A Gold Coast footballer has spoken about the moment he snapped his leg in two places.

PALM BEACH fullback Heath Finnigan plans to watch his teammates win the Gold Coast Premier League grand final from the sideline after a successful surgery on his badly broken leg sustained in Saturday night’s match.

Finnigan broke both his tibia and fibula in a gruesome collision with a Southport opponent in the 56th minute of the GCPL decider that was livestreamed by News Corp, which was later postponed to this weekend as a result of the Palm Beach player’s injury.

Finnigan went into surgery on Sunday afternoon and 24 hours later he was at home recovering and responding to the hundreds of well-wishes from members of the Gold Coast football community.

“From the club, from Football Gold Coast, everyone – the Southport coach has been calling me, and their players, the support has been amazing,” Finnigan said.

“I’ve had over 250 messages on my phone.”

Finnigan had a pin inserted into his leg running from his ankle to just below his knee.

Doctors told him he can start to put pressure on the leg after 3-5 weeks, but it would take anywhere between 4-6 months before he will have full use again.

Speaking for the first time since his injury, Finnigan said he initially didn’t feel any pain after the collision inside the Southport 18-yard box.

“I just saw it (the leg) going the wrong way, so I knew both bones were broken because it wouldn’t be going that way if it was still intact,” he said.

“So I knew straight away.”

Incredibly, Finnigan had to lay on the pitch for more than an hour waiting for an ambulance to arrive.

“It was so s**t,” he said.

“I was told from about 20 minutes (after the incident) that they were about two minutes away, and it kept dragging on. By then I was in a stupid amount of pain.

“No drugs or anything, just trying to tough it out.

“I knew it was taking so long because I could feel the pain getting worse.

“I was laying on wet grass for an hour with two broken bones in my leg.”

A Football Gold Coast spokesman told The Bulletin on Sunday that the organisation would look at hiring an ambulance to be on standby for future finals matches – a measure that Finnigan said needed to be taken.

“For sure, yeah. Even just a paramedic with a green whistle or something, so I could at least get off the field straight away and the game could have continued,” he said.

Finnigan’s call for action came after a Tweed United player was also forced to wait an hour for an ambulance during Sunday night’s semi-final at Robina, though a paramedic was at the game to facilitate getting the player off the field on a stretcher.

After a “surreal” few days, Finnigan said he was finally “coming to terms” with what the rehabilitation process will be like.

He pre-thanked his partner, Janaya, for her support over the next few months.

But Finnigan’s more immediate concern is the GCPL grand final, and watching his teammates in the replay against Southport this Saturday.

“They’ll get the job done – I’ll get there, for sure,” he said.

“I’ll probably get a wheelchair or something, but I’ll be there.”

A GoFundMe page has been set up to help support Finnigan, a tree lopper, who will not be able to work until he has made a full recovery.