Former NRL star turned media personality Brett Finch enters rehabilitation facility

On TV he’s a loveable larrikin but a confronting image of Brett Finch emerged as the ex-NRL star checked into a mental health facility.

Former State of Origin hero Brett Finch has checked into a mental health facility after an incident on a flight from Sydney to the Gold Coast on the weekend.

The Fox League analyst, who is a TV regular alongside Matty Johns, was asleep and had a bloody nose on the flight, The Daily Telegraph reports.

The publication reports Finch needed assistance getting off the plane with one witness saying it looked like the ex-NRL star was “scared about something”.

“(He) looked like he couldn’t bring himself to get off the plane. White as a ghost, couldn’t control his runny nose and (seemed) paranoid,” the passenger said.

“He wasn’t abusive. He just didn’t want to get off the plane, like he was scared about something.

“The captain came out … they had to call fireys and ambulance to get him off.”

Reacting to the report, former NRL star Keith Galloway said on Twitter: “I hope he gets the help he needs.”

Channel 7 sports editor Jim Wilson tweeted: “All our thoughts to a genuinely good bloke.”

Brett Finch’s nose was bleeding and he was in a troubled state on the flight to the Gold Coast.

Finch has previously opened up about the mental health struggles he has had since retiring from professional rugby league in 2013, admitting he has struggled to replicate the rush he got from playing the sport.

“It took a few years, it took three trips to rehab facilities,” Finch said on The Matty Johns Podcast. “I learned a lot about myself and the things that I’m dealing with. I had to realise I’m not going to get the highs I had in footy and for so long I was chasing that.

“One day I was a football player, the next day no one cares. It’s over. I struggled to get any satisfaction in life.

“You train to extreme levels, you’re super fit and super strong. I thought I was a mentally tough bloke. I was trying to get some highs in my life.

“Someone I was seeing professionally told me to go down to Bondi Beach and watch the sunrise. So I did that and I thought, ‘Is this is it? Who gives a s***. This is nothing like playing a grand final’.”

Last year Finch told The Daily Telegraph: “I struggled without footy. I was lost, got stuck in a rut and made some really poor decisions. Lucky I had great people around me who helped me get the right treatment.”

In 2016 Finch, then working with Channel 9, was granted leave by the network to deal with personal issues. He and the broadcaster parted ways and in 2017 he joined Fox Sports.

In January 2018 he married his partner Elli Johnston and the pair had a daughter in May.

Brett Finch and Elli Johnston at their wedding in Melbourne.

Finch played 270 games in the NRL and another 60 for Wigan in the English Super League in a career that saw him win a premiership with Melbourne in 2009. In addition to the Storm, the playmaker also represented Canberra, the Roosters and Parramatta.

His most famous on-field achievement was kicking the winning field goal for NSW in the opening match of the 2006 State of Origin series. Finch wasn’t selected in the squad but was called into camp on the eve of Game 1 after first-choice halfback Craig Gower injured himself the day before the match.

Finch slotted a one-pointer with just a couple of minutes left to give the Blues a 17-16 win in Sydney.

He played three matches for NSW.

Finch has struggled with losing his identity post-football.