After nearly 18 years of playing rugby for the Goulburn Dirty Reds, fly-half Matt Klem suffered a horrendous leg injury during the first half against Cooma on the cold Rotary Park field.

Klem had to watch on from the sideline, his shattered ankle swollen and wrapped in ice, as the Reds came back to earn their toughest victory in some time.

The diagnosis wasn't good; a spiral fracture of the tibia and dislocated ankle meant Klem had to go under the knife, with some five screws and a plate inserted into his leg.

For the full story, please see Monday's Goulburn Post, available from our front office in Auburn St, or at all leading newsagencies across the Goulburn area.