This is a story that has to be told." (Alan Jones)

Few rugby league players were more notorious than John Elias. The menacing forward not only intimidated his opponents on the paddock; he also led a double life as a career criminal and stand-over man.

Starting in the driver's seat of a stolen Holden at age 14, Elias's crimes grew more brazen as his football CV expanded to include over a dozen clubs. Illegal bookmaking rings, fire-arms trading, shootings, brothels, seedy card dens and the biggest match-fixing scandal in the game's recent history were all part of his off-field routine that eventually culminated in three prison sentences.

Loved by high-profile friends such as Wayne Bennett, Alan Jones, John Ibrahim and John Singleton and loathed by his enemies, John Elias now owns one of the most colourful stories in Australian sport - a roller-coaster ride from the ecstasy of grand final glory to the depths of a maximum security jail cell.

Sin Bin is John's incredible tale. You'll never look at John Elias, or rugby league, the same way again.

Author Information

John was born in Lebanon in 1962 and after moving to Punchbowl in Sydney's west played in the NRL for clubs including Newtown, Brisbane Souths, Wests, Easts and Canterbury. Several stints in Goal, including an eighteenth month sentence in Long Bay at age sixteen, and his other off field activities saw John become a fixture in Sydney's underworld scene. He went on to set up the Lebanese national team, The Cedars, and has played, captained and coached the side in numerous successful campaigns.