and NOW Then

QRL History Committee

GREG SHANNON

THIS week we got the sad news of Rugby league great John Sattler's passing.

A true gentleman and a great ambassador for rugby league, John is always remembered for playing in the 1970 Sydney grand final for South Sydney against Manly with a broken jaw.

However, there is much more to his career both on and off the field, than this one game.

Originally from Kurri Kurri, he played for the Combined Newcastle side against Great Britain in 1962 as a 19-yearold and then joined the South Sydney club, where he carved out an illustrious decadelong career. He played 197 first-grade games for Souths and captained the club to 4 Sydney premierships in 1967, 1968, 1970 and 1971 and also represented NSW and Australia.

In fact, he Captained Australia in 1971.

What makes John's career even more unique is that for the 1973 season, at 30 years of age, he took on a new challenge by signing with the QRL and moving to Brisbane to play in the old Brisbane rugby league competition for Brisbane Wests and was named Captain of the Qld side that year against NSW and NZ. This was still the era when interstate sides were selected on a residential basis, not origin and NSW that year was captained by Sydneybased Arthur Beetson!

NSW won the 1973 interstate, but Qld did defeat NZ, and some of the players from the Qld squad went on to have great careers both on and off the field.

The fullback (No 1), for instance, was a policeman called Wayne Bennett, who went on to have an enormous coaching career that continues to this day with the Dolphins.

The hooker (No 12) was John Lang, who played many times for Qld through the 1970s and in the first origin match in 1980. Later turning to coaching, he coached Penrith to an NRL premiership in 2003 and was the Australian Superleague coach in 1997. His son Martin played eight origin matches for Qld from 1998-2000.

One of the Qld wingers was No 2 Warren Orr, who was back playing in Brisbane after playing for Atherton and North Queensland in 1972. Both he and John Lang made the Kangaroo touring squad at the end of the 1973 season.

No 3 centre John Grant was a Brisbane Souths player who later became a businessman and, in 2011, was named the inaugural chair of the Australian Rugby League commission.

Closer to home, No 4 Dave Applebee was selected for Qld from the Innisfail competition after transferring from Penrith.

The Qld Captain John Sattler (No 11) was obviously already famous by the time he wore the maroon in 1973. After retiring as a player in 1976, he became a successful businessman. In 1988 he was part of a consortium of former players to start the new Gold Coast Chargers club in the expanded national league (now known as the Gold Coast Titans). He was also a guest on many media outlets for decades, and his son Scott played origin for Qld in 2003.

John Sattler has left a long legacy in Rugby league.