Sin Bin
's main theme. Elias regrets his dad dying before he was born; regrets stealing cars and committing burglaries in his youth; regrets robbing the wrong guy and an 18-month spell at a maximum security prison when just 17; regrets getting caught selling drugs and machine gun parts; regrets not having the self control not to shoot someone who threatened his mother. You get the picture.
A hard-nut back rower (no relation to Benny), he had more clubs than Tiger had mistresses but somehow managed to chalk up 150 odd first-grade games despite three stretches in prison.
He befriended super coaches Wayne Bennett (who contributes a chapter), Warren Ryan, Arthur Beetson and Alan Jones. He worked as a standover man for violent nutter Danny "DK" Karam and was an acquaintance of fellow Underbelly figure John Ibrahim. Elias, collected debts, fenced stolen goods, fixed trotting races and even rigged a footy match. He survived cancer, founded the Lebanon league team after having a brainwave in prison and set up a certain gobby New Zealand talk radio DJ with the fattest chick in Leigh.
It's a ripping read. The problem, though, in a true life account written by a career criminal with a string of dishonesty offences, is how much can you believe? If half of what is in this book is true, Elias is one of the most intriguing figures to have graced (probably not the right word) professional sport.
