John William Sattler was a professional and national representative rugby league footballer who played in the 1960s and 1970s. He was a rugged Prop forward who captained his club, South Sydney to four premiership victories from 1967 to 1971 and who played four Tests for Australia – three as national captain.
When did John Sattler break his jaw?
Sattler famously played with a broken jaw in the Rabbitohs’ 1970 Grand Final victory against Manly.
On this day in 1970, Rabbitohs Captain, John Sattler, continued play after sustaining a serious jaw injury three minutes into the Grand Final against Manly at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
Despite his injury and in a moment described as the most celebrated display of heroics in Rugby League history, Sattler refused to leave the field.
Suffering from excruciating pain, Sattler managed to make 20 tackles, one offload, and touch the ball 29 times while missing only one tackle and making one handling error.