Rugby union Manukau Rovers (1929-31) It is unclear when exactly Jack moved to
Auckland however his older brother began playing for the
Manukau rugby union club in 1926 so it is likely Jack moved at the same time after their schooling.{{cite news He began to be named in the Manukau senior A squads to start the 1930 season but was not mentioned in any match reports.{{cite news , who he played against in 1931, and later with, at
Richmond.The 1931 season saw Satherley fully established in the first grade side, playing in 19 matches. He was credited with 2 tries though the newspapers would often omit scoring details from their match descriptions so it is likely that he scored several more given he was playing on the wing. His first game of the season was against
Grammar Old Boys on May 2.{{cite news On September 19 Manukau played in the final of the Pollard Cup against Technical Old Boys at Eden Park. Technical won 16–10. In the first half he “broke clean away, but when blocked, passed inside. Harris intercepted and pulled Tech. out of a difficult position”.{{cite news
Rugby League Richmond Rovers There was no mention of Satherley playing rugby in Auckland or elsewhere in 1932. In fact he was not mentioned again until an October 14, 1933 game between the
Richmond Rovers rugby league side against the touring
St. George from
Sydney,
Australia. Richmond were a club based in the central Auckland suburb of
Grey Lynn. St. George had finished runners up in the
1933 NSWRFL competition and were playing 7 matches in New Zealand. Richmond won 5 points to 3 with Satherley being involved in “fine inside back play” along with
Roy Powell and
Stan Prentice which “prevented the half-backs, Richard Daly and
Tom Carey, from going far”.{{cite news At the start of the
1934 Auckland Rugby League season Satherley was named in Richmond's round 1 side to play
Newton Rangers on April 28 at
Carlaw Park. He went on to play 20 games for them during the year. He played at second five eighth (inside centre) in their 18–7 win over Newton with the Herald saying “
Prentice is not yet quite at his best, but has a promising second five eighth in J. Satherley”.{{cite news On July 11 Satherley actually played a
rugby union game for the Engineers against the Police. He was employed by the railway at the time. As the match was employment based and did not require players to be registered with rugby union it was allowed. He scored a try in the Engineers 18–8 win and also kicked a conversion. Fellow league player Dan Keane from the Ponsonby club also scored a try and kicked two goals.{{cite news Satherley then went on tour with the Richmond team with matches played at
New Plymouth against the
Taranaki side, and at
Napier against the
Hawke's Bay side on August 9 and 11 respectively. It is unknown if he played in the game with Taranaki but he was named in the side to play Hawke's Bay at fullback.{{cite news After returning to Auckland he played for Richmond in their 26–5 win over Devonport on August 18 in round 1 of the Roope Rooster competition. He “cleverly produced [their] opening try” assisting Eric Fletcher to score.{{cite news With the season in its later stages the
Western Suburbs side from
Sydney was on a 5 match tour of Auckland. Western Suburbs were the NSW champions and had played games against Marist and Newton before a game with Richmond on September 29. Satherley was named at second five eighth with Stan Prentice at first five.{{cite news
Moved into the Richmond forwards (1935) The
1935 season saw Satherley move into the forwards for Richmond. He mainly played in the second row and at lock but also was tried out at hooker, and at the end of the year in his last game played at second five once more. In total he was not as busy, playing 15 games and not being selected for a handful of matches. His first game was against Newton on April 27 with Richmond winning 27–15. He was playing with his brother Cliff in the forwards and they, along with Joe Ginders, Alf Broadhead, and
Ray Lawless “were a power in the open”.{{cite news On May 11 against
Devonport, Satherley made possibly his first ever appearance at hooker, a position he was to ultimately represent
New Zealand in two years later. The Auckland Star reported that he “was only fair in winning the ball from [Tony] Milicich”.{{cite news three to his right. Due to the nature of the hooker position in this era Satherley was not mentioned much in match reports as the majority of his work was confined to scrummaging. There were many more than there are in the modern game and the contest was much more physically demanding. The next mention of him was in a game on August 31 in the semi final of the Roope Rooster. Richmond had beaten the same team 3 weeks earlier to claim the Fox Memorial first grade championship title once more.{{cite news
Auckland and North Island selection (1936) In
1936 Jack Satherley made his rugby league representative debut. He played 2 games for
Auckland, and was also selected for the
North Island team to play in their annual match with the
South Island. He was busy for Richmond, playing in 19 games, scoring 2 tries. His first match of the season was in a ‘special opening match’ for Richmond against
Mount Albert on April 18 before the championship properly began two weeks later.{{cite news Satherley was then named in their opening Fox Memorial championship match with
Ponsonby on May 2.{{cite news Following the game against Ponsonby, Satherley was selected in the
Auckland team to make his debut for them. Auckland was playing two matches on the same day with neither distinguished as an A or B team. Satherley's side was to play
Wellington at Carlaw Park at 1:30pm and featured 6 current or future New Zealand internationals, with the other team playing Auckland Māori at 3pm featuring 10 current or future New Zealand internationals.{{cite news Satherley was then selected to make his debut for the
North Island team for their July 11 match with the
South Island. The selector was
Bert Avery and he named
Frank Pickrang (Auckland) and
Joe Cootes (Wellington) to prop either side of him.{{cite news On July 20 Satherley was named in the
Auckland team to play the touring
England side at Carlaw Park on July 25.{{cite news Satherley returned to his Richmond side for the remainder of the season. Richmond had been leading the championship but lost to Devonport on August 22 by 5 points to 3. It was noted that “except for Hadley, whose keenness got him occasionally into offside trouble, and J. Satherley, the Richmond forwards were shaded”.{{cite news
New Zealand debut (1937) In
1937 Satherley made his debut for
New Zealand in the second test against the touring
Australia side. He also played for
Auckland against
South Auckland (Waikato), and Auckland Pākehā against Auckland Māori, along with 18 games for
Richmond. His first game of the season was for Richmond against
Manukau in a preliminary round game at Carlaw Park on April 17.{{cite news Satherley was named in the 'Auckland' side to play a 'Māori' team at Carlaw Park on May 12. This was the first time ever that the two sides had met though it would become a more regular fixture over the following decades, and from the following year onwards the teams were more specifically named Auckland Pākehā, and Auckland Māori/Tāmaki. Satherley was named at hooker with Bill Breed (Marist) and
Angus Gault (Manukau) at prop.{{cite news Satherley was selected by former international
Hec Brisbane to play for
Auckland against
South Auckland (Waikato) on June 9. Such was the strength of Auckland rugby league they also chose a side to play
Taranaki on the same day. Both teams featured several New Zealand internationals and were of a similar strength with neither singled out as being an 'A' or 'B' team.{{cite news Satherley was then named in a
New Zealand trial match in the New Zealand Possibles side by selectors
Bert Avery and
Thomas McClymont.{{cite news
New Zealand test selection On Monday, August 9 Satherley was requested to report for training at the Auckland gymnasium that evening. Eleven players had been called upon following the first test loss (8–12) to
Australia 2 days earlier.{{cite news The second test was played at
Carlaw Park on August 14 and saw New Zealand register an upset 16–15 win over an injury ravaged Australian side before 25,000 spectators. In the first half Pearce left the field with a broken leg. Then with Australia leading at halftime 15-6 they lost
Jim Gibbs to a rib injury shortly after the resumption. Soon after, Satherley went “bursting over to score under the uprights” with
George Nēpia converting to narrow the score to 15–11.{{cite news
Richmond's 3rd title Satherley then returned to his Richmond side who suffered a 30–24 loss to Marist. Richmond were in the championship lead at the time but the loss meant that going into the final round their lead was narrowed to one point over Marist and Mount Albert. Satherley scored a try in the loss and was one of the best Richmond forwards.{{cite news
New Zealand tour of Australia (1938) The
1938 season saw Satherley once again selected to represent New Zealand when he was chosen for the tour of Australia. He also played for the
North Island in their inter-island match, twice for
Auckland, and 17 matches for
Richmond. In Richmond's opening round win over
Papakura on April 9, Satherley scored a try. It came after
Noel Bickerton and
Wally Tittleton combined for Satherley to “race across”.{{cite news Satherley was then selected for the
New Zealand team to tour Australia. The selectors were
Thomas McClymont,
Hec Brisbane, and
Jim Amos.{{cite news After arriving in Australia Satherley was named in the first match of the tour against
New South Wales at the
Sydney Cricket Ground on June 11.{{cite news The next game was against
Queensland on June 18 at the
Brisbane Cricket Ground with
George Orman preferred at hooker. W. Sneyd, a photographer for the Telegraph (Brisbane) wrote an opinion piece on the New Zealand side and said “the visitors will test our Queensland rake, because if either Satherley or Orman plays they will be equipped with an expert exponent of the art. Satherley, however, is just as likely to be troublesome in the open as he is in the scrum, because he is fast”.{{cite news Satherley then moved back into the hooking position for New Zealand's next match on June 29 against NSW Group 4 at Tamworth Oval. New Zealand won 26–15 after leading 16–0 at halftime.{{cite news Satherley then returned to the Richmond side for the remainder of the season.{{cite news
Richmond (1939) The
1939 season saw Satherley playing for Richmond once more but perhaps surprisingly he was not selected for the aborted New Zealand tour of England. In round 1 of the championship Satherley was injured in Richmond's 15–14 win over City and had to go off.{{cite news Satherley was then named in the reserves for the North Island v South Island, and Possibles v Probables set of games at Carlaw Parkon July 8. The hooker chosen for the North Island was J. Brooks of Waikato while Maurice Quirke and
Bert Leatherbarrow both from Auckland were chosen to hook in the other match.{{cite news He then returned to his Richmond side to finish the season. On July 22 in a 23–14 loss to Manukau he “received a nasty face injury and was treated at hospital”.{{cite news
Retirement and return (1942) It appears that late in 1939 Satherley had decided to retire from the game. He did not play at all in
1940 aside from a rugby league veterans game between Auckland Veterans and South Auckland Veterans at Carlaw Park on October 19.{{cite news Then in
1942 Satherley came out of retirement to rejoin the Richmond side once more. With World War 2 well underway many senior sides were struggling for playing numbers and many players came out of retirement to play for their former clubs. There was much less reporting of games due to the dominance of war reporting and so it is unclear exactly how many games Satherley played though it was most likely around 18, and he scored 6 tries which was the most in his club career in a single season. It was reported on April 20 that he would be available for their opening match.{{cite news
Retirement and return once more (1945) Satherley once more retired from the game, not playing at all in the
1943 and
1944 seasons. He did however make a full comeback in
1945 for
Richmond. He played 20 games scoring 5 tries. He played in their opening games against
Point Chevalier and
North Shore which they both won.{{cite news On August 11 in an 11–7 win over Manukau Satherley scored another try however the win was overshadowed by foul play against Satherley by Joseph Zimmerman. Following the match an inquiry was held by the
Auckland Rugby League “in connection with an incident near the end of the game when J. Satherley, one of the Richmond players was injured, and lay on the ground for some time receiving attention. At the time of the incident a set scrum was being formed, and Satherley was seen to reel and fall”.{{cite news ==Personal life==