Firman targets late season return
By PAUL SUTTOR
March 30, 2004
DRAGONS half-back Brett Firman yesterday vowed to make it back on the field this season after better-than-expected surgery on his broken leg.
Firman had two choices - either have his left leg encased in plaster but not play again this year while the injury heals or have a screw inserted in his fractured limb and have a chance of making a comeback by early July.
The 21-year-old Dragon was already counting down the weeks until he gets back on the park while lying in his hospital bed yesterday.
"It's only going to be three months so I'll be able to play footy again this year. There's still plenty of time," he said. "It has been a pretty disappointing start to the year but I'm sure everything will come good. I'm going to work really hard with all my rehab. I'll be back for sure."
The ghastly accident happened when a Newtown player collided with Firman after attempting to charge down his kick during St George Illawarra's 26-14 Premier League win at Henson Park on the weekend.
As soon as he was hit, Firman knew something was horribly wrong.
"The pain was unbelievable. I knew straight away that something bad happened. When I looked at it I could see my leg was mangled. It's weird, it didn't come through the skin but you could see where it was broken, it was all dints in there," he said.
"He hit me when I was doing my kick. I think I would've been on one leg. There was nothing bad in it, it was just unfortunate."
Getting back on the field wasn't Firman's first priority after realising the extent of the damage.
"I was a bit worried about it. I was thinking 'shit, that doesn't look too good'. I was wondering if I would ever be able to run again, I had that many thoughts going through my mind.
"When the doctor told me it'd be sweet in three months, a fair bit of tension eased for me. I've broken both of them (fibula and tibia) but they're not bad."
Mathew Head, who had been chosen ahead of Firman for the past fortnight anyway, looks set for a long stay in the No7 jersey while rookie Lachlan Russell and utility Lincoln Withers are also capable scrum-feeders.
Meantime, Dragons prop Ashton Sims, who missed the 34-6 loss to Melbourne on the weekend with a knee injury, and back rower Dean Young (ankle) have been declared certain starters for this Sunday's WIN Stadium joust with the Knights.
Young was also cleared by the NRL match review committee of a head-slamming charge.
Veteran forward Nathan Long will have an arthroscopy tomorrow on his injured knee and is hoping to be back in two weeks.
Illwarra Mercury
