Rugby league great John Sattler reminisces about his career and life

JOHN Sattler is a legend in rugby league and will always be remembered as one of the code’s genuine tough men. Sattler, now retired on the Gold Coast, reminisces about his career and life.

Rugby league great John Sattler on the Gold Coast today. Picture: Jerad Williams

JOHN Sattler is a legend in rugby league and will always be remembered as one of the code’s genuine tough men. Sattler was also instrumental in setting up the area’s first NRL team, the Gold Coast-Tweed Giants. At 74, he reminisces about his career and life.

South Sydney captain John Sattler (left) is hit with a forearm to the head by John Bucknall during the 1970 NSWRL grand final at the SCG.

THAT GRAND FINAL HIT

Q: Satts, your enduring legacy to rugby league was struck in the 1970 NSWRL grand final playing for South Sydney against Manly. It must still stand as one of the most courageous individual acts in sport.

A: It was two minutes into the grand final and I got king-hit by John Bucknall. Then John Morgan got me soon after and I ended up with four separate breaks in my jaw. But I got through and we won.

Q: Did you ever catch up with Bucknall to “discuss” the incident and get a square-up?

A: No, I’ve never spoken with him since but only because we never ran into each other.

John Sattler (third from left) with fellow players Johnny Greaves, Peter Gallagher and Elwyn Walters at an Australian team medical check in 1967. Sattler and Gallagher later owned pubs on the Gold Coast.

MOVING TO THE NORTH

Q: You were controversially lured to Queensland by then QRL boss Senator Ron McAuliffe. Weren’t you playing against NSW and big Bill Hamilton copped one on the chin from you?

A: I don’t know about that one. Oh, to be honest, I do remember. Look, Bill was a good bloke and we used to live in the same street in Kurri Kurri. Why did I do it? Well, he played for Manly, didn’t he?

Q: On the subject of you playing for Queensland after you represented NSW, what was behind your move north?

A: It was before the State of Origin concept and Senator McAuliffe and the QRL wanted me to play for Queensland. He set me up with a job at the Carlton brewery and that’s where it started. I played for Norths in Brisbane under Bobby Bax and was in the same team as English halfback Tommy Bishop.

Q: After your time working at the brewery didn’t you go on to ­become a publican?

I took over the Young Australian Hotel in Gladstone, then we opened the Bribie Island Hotel then I came to the Gold Coast and ran the Queens Hotel which then became the Courthouse Hotel and which, I understand, is no longer there in Southport.

Q: The late Ken Irvine once made a point in his Bulletin column about two tough Aussie front-rowers operating neighbouring pubs, you at one called the Queens and Peter Gallagher at the Cecil.

A: I won’t go into too much detail because of the politically correctness thing these days but we used to have a bit of fun and a giggle about that.

FORGING A CLUB WITH GIANT STEPS

Q: You also left a legacy in local football when you helped set up the Gold Coast-Tweed ­Giants in 1988. Talk about that.

A: Yes, there was “Pedro” (Peter) Gallagher, Bob Hagan and myself in the consortium and we called the team the Giants but then the Seagulls club bought it off us and renamed it the Gold Coast Seagulls.

Q: When the Giants were first put together can you remember the first player who signed?

A: Was it Ronnie Gibbs? (It was ­actually hooker and former boxer Billy Johnstone).

Q: Did you make any money from the Giants exercise? Must have been a hard market to crack in those days.

A: Peter and Bobby used to look after the finances and they kept it pretty close to their chests so if there was any money I certainly didn’t get any. I was as happy as a pig in s**t to see somebody take it over. But it was terrific and it’s terrific to see where it has turned out today as the Titans. They’re going OK.

John Sattler’s son Scott makes a match-winning tackle on the Roosters’ Todd Byrne during Penrith’s 2003 NRL grand final success. Photo: Channel Nine.

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS

Q: You played through the unlimited tackles days, the four-tackles days then the six-tackles era. Did you like them all?

A: I enjoyed the unlimited era but I hated the four tackles. The six tackles rule was pretty good.

Q: You were obviously a great player but who are your favourite all-time players?

I reckon Johnny Raper was the best. He and Wally Lewis. They were two different types but wonderful ball players and were tough.

Q: You must have quite a few but what is your favourite memory in rugby league?

A: We had a loss but playing against St George in the 1965 grand final at the SCG sticks with me. They counted the crowd at 78,056 but then the crowd stormed the gates and smashed them over. We had people four deep inside the fence.

Q: And your worst memory, maybe apart from that famous broken jaw?

A: 1966 was probably the worst year in my career. We didn’t win many games and the committee were fighting all the time. It was very ordinary and one of those years you didn’t want to go to training.

Q: You created grand final history in 1970. So did your son Scott with that unforgettable cover defence tackle on Sydney Roosters winger Todd Byrne in 2003.

A: Scott made that tackle directly in front of where I was sitting and he almost put Byrne in my lap. I saw Byrne make the break and I could see Scotty coming and I’m saying ‘he’s going to get him, he’s going to get him, no he’s not, no he’s not, then oh bang, gotcha’. That was a proud moment because Penrith won the game.

Former rugby league enforcer Kevin Ryan (with ball) is rated by John Sattler as the toughest of opponents. “Boy, could he rattle your ribs,” Sattler said.

SWITCH TO THE BIG SMOKE, BIG PAY

Q: Going back in time, as a youngster from Kurri Kurri in country NSW, what was behind you signing for South Sydney at a time when St George thought they had you stitched up in the middle of their 11-premiership run?

A: Yes, I was originally going to sign with St George but the day before I was going to do that Souths sent up their treasurer and their patron on New Year’s Eve of 1962 and I signed with them.

Q: What was your first contract worth? I bet it’s nothing like what the players get these days.

A: I got 650 pounds for signing on and 40 pounds for a win, 30 pounds for a draw and 20 pounds for a loss. I think I got 26 pounds for playing all season with Kurri.

Q: Who was the most legitimate hard man you came up against? And you had a few of them during your time.

A: Kevin Ryan, who played with St George then became captain-coach of Canterbury. Boy, could he rattle your ribs.

John Sattler, with his jaw broken, is chaired from the field after Souths’ 1970 grand final win.

HEAD KNOCKS AND WORK

Q: Brett Horsnell is the latest former player to file a law suit over the head knocks he sustained. As a warrior of the 1960s and 1970s you copped a fair bit of punishment. How did you fare in those days of no concussion tests?

A: If I got a good heavy one around the head I used to get these awful migraine headaches. On the way home my wife would be driving and my eyes would go blurry and then I’d reach the stage later when I as physically sick. Then it was all like a relief that it was gone but you’d feel like a washed-out dishcloth the next day.

Q: It’s a hot topic at the moment. So you are in favour of the rules regarding concussion?

A: It is good. There’s a lot more responsibility there for the doctors and club officials and when the doc says it’s over I think that’s a great idea. Especially with all the legal stuff to be considered.

Q: In your days players had employment. You’d go to work then when you finished it’d be off to training. Do you believe players these days have too much spare time on their hands?

A: My first job was with an engineering company at Mascot. I used to start at 7am and work through to three o’clock, then go to training. I’m not knocking players these days but I think they do have too much time on their hands. They must be bored to tears. I know there’s the promotional stuff but they don’t do that unless they get paid for it.

John Sattler, 74, at his Gold Coast home. Picture: Jerad Williams

ORIGIN AND ALLEGIANCE

Q: You played in a pre-Origin era when many Queensland players were lured to cashed-up Sydney clubs and ended up playing for NSW. What do you think of the ­concept of state versus state, mate versus mate?

A: It has been fantastic. A lot of people have taken credit for it but it was Ron McAuliffe who got it all going. A lot of blokes have come forward and said ‘me, me me, me’ but that’s a load of bulls**t’.

Q: Everyone has an opinion at the moment but who do you think will win the series this year? Some are writing off the Maroons.

A: I think Queensland will win it again. People are saying they haven’t got the players, they haven’ got this, they haven’t got that. But the young blokes coming through, they aspire to play in that State of Origin and they lift a heap when the time comes around.

Q: That’s a really good point but a complex one. Why do you think it is so?

A: I’m not sure what you can put it down to but maybe it’s just pride. It means a lot to NSW even though a lot say it isn’t so when they get beaten. But to the Queenslanders it’s like Australia versus England.

Q: You played for both NSW and Queensland in your career. So which state do you support come Origin time?

A: Neither really. But I know my son Scott is certainly a Maroon through and through. He was born in Sydney but he played Origin for Queensland.