Local Bob Gilligan confirmed Sattler’s version of events.

“I saw Sattler on the tracks,” he said. “He was picking this bloke up in his arms. Less than a minute later, a railway parcel van sped by on the same line.”

Three weeks later, Sattler led the Rabbitohs at the SCG against Manly in a fourth-straight grand final. Three minutes into the contest, Sea Eagles forward John Bucknall broke the Rabbitohs icon’s jaw in three places.

Sattler’s refusal to leave the field, and his refusal to acknowledge the brutal injury in the hope he wouldn’t be ruled out of a Kangaroos tour, is one of the most famous stories in Australian sport.

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The Day John Sattler Broke His Jaw by Sydney artist Perry Keyes was recently covered by the Whitlams. Frontman Tim Freedman described it as “the greatest song ever written about rugby league”.

The day John Sattler saved a man on the train tracks is another story to add to a remarkable life and legacy.

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