Two brothers whose images went viral after allegedly attacking a man on a Sydney train have pleaded not guilty to the assault.
Connor McKeown, 26, and Gareth McKeown, 28, appeared briefly at Downing Centre Local Court on Wednesday, pleading not guilty to affray and assault occasioning actual bodily harm in company.
Police allege the brothers attacked 48-year-old Paul Roberts as he travelled home from the NRL clash between the Panthers and Bulldogs at Sydney Olympic Park on September 27.
Mr Roberts was allegedly punched in the face numerous times, suffering a broken nose, two black eyes and a cut to his forehead.
He also underwent plastic surgery for a cut to his lip.
The brothers voluntarily attended police earlier this month after CCTV images of the men posted by police went viral.
Within two hours the post reached 180,000 people and garnered more than 1000 shares, 490 likes and 370 comments.
The pair remain on bail, with the matter expected to return to court in December.
In September, Mr Roberts spoke about about the incident, explaining that he stepped stepping in to defend two women with the intention of preventing any violence from erupting.
He as he has been identified, was on the train from Sydney Olympic Park to Central after the Penrith-Canterbury semi-final when he saw an argument between two women and two men.
Deciding to go over and calm things down before the situation got out of control, he came away with a broken nose, two black eyes and 24 stitches to a gash on his head and lip.
'I thought I'd just ask the fellas to leave it alone and walk away, to just quieten everything down,' Paul told 9NEWS.
'There were innocent people on the train and these people were getting quite overheated.
'I didn't want it to escalate to the stage where there was any violence.'
One of the men allegedly moved to sit down in a different part of the train, but his friend is claimed to have started throwing punches.
'Loads of punches were being thrown, one of the guys pinned my arms to my side while the other one threw punches,' Paul said.
He managed to headbutt the alleged attacker - the 48-year-old's only option without the use of his arms.
The alleged culprits departed at Central railway station, where paramedics came to Paul's aid.
Police confirm that at 11.50pm, the alleged victim was travelling on a city-bound train from Olympic Park with a man and two women after the Bulldogs-Panthers clash.
It's alleged Connor and Gareth McKeown boarded the train at Strathfield Station and struck up a conversation with the group.
'By the time the train reached Redfern, the 48-year-old man was concerned the conversation had become offensive,' said a NSW Police spokesperson.
'He approached the other two men in an attempt to de-escalate matters.'
Witnesses say Paul was assaulted between Redfern Station and Central Station, at which point all parties left the train.
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