Benny Elias

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Benjamin Elias (لبني الياس in Arabic) (born November 15, 1963, Tripoli, Lebanon) was a rugby league player, primarily as a hooker. Whilst playing for Balmain in the New South Wales Rugby League competition, he was one of the leading hookers from the mid 1980s until his retirement at the end of the 1994 season. Along with Wayne Pearce, Paul Sironen and Steve Roach, Elias and his Balmain teammates formed one of the best forward packs in the modern era during the late 1980s.

Benny Elias was arguably most responsible for the reinvention of the hooker's role in rugby league: changing it from that of a scrummager to a skilful playmaker at "dummy half" (the player who receives the play-the-ball)^{[citation needed]}. He has sometimes been spoken of as "a player with a halfback's talents playing at hooker", yet Elias was still a superb scrummager, as shown when he won three key scrums against the feed in a 1990 play-off against Newcastle.

Contents 1 Playing career 1.1 Early career 1.2 Representative Debuts 1.3 State of Origin Career 1.4 1990s 2 Controversy 3 Post retirement career 4 External links

[edit] Playing career

[edit] Early career

After migrating to Australia at a young age, Elias was a fan of rugby league from very young days and played his first rugby for Holy Cross College Ryde in the late 1970s as a halfback. He was graded by Balmain in 1981, and transferred quickly to the hooking position where he remained for the rest of his career. When he first played first grade in 1982 his potential as a teenager was immediately noticed, and he developed so well that by 1984 he was widely tipped for major representative honours.

[edit] Representative Debuts

These came Elias' way in 1985 when he played in New South Wales' first team to win a State of Origin series, and was selected for the New Zealand tour that year. Elias was subsequently selected for the following year's Kangaroo Tour, which was undefeated through England and France, however Elias was unable to displace Royce Simmons as the Test hooker.

Elias was instrumental in Balmain's advancement to the NSWRL Grand Final against the Canterbury Bulldogs in 1988, despite experiencing a painful rib cartilage injury during the lead-up to the finals series. Though they lost 12-24 to Canterbury, Elias won the Rugby League Week Player of the Year award (one of only two hookers to achieve this feat). He was selected for the 1988 World Cup, and only a broken thumb kept him out of representative honours in 1989. He was back at his best in Balmain's surge to the Grand Final that year, narrowly missing a vital field-goal attempt in the second half of the overtime loss to the Canberra Raiders.

[edit] State of Origin Career

Elias made 19 appearances for the New South Wales State of Origin team between 1985 and 1994 and won the Man of the Match Award on 3 occasions ( Game I 1990, Game I 1992 and Game III 1994). Elias played State of Origin with incredible passion and is remembered for his fiery clashes with Queensland hookers Kerrod and Steve Walters. He was honoured later in his career when he captained the Blues in six games in 1990 - 1991. An enduring image of State of Origin remains from 1994 when with blood streaming down his face he helped NSW to a 14-0 win in Melbourne.

In 2005 he was named one of the 25 greatest ever NSW players.

[edit] 1990s

Elias produced some of his best form during 1990, including:

• A brilliant solo try in the City v Country match in 1990
• A superb performance in New South Wales' first Origin win since 1987
• Two brilliant performance on the Kangaroo tour, including a famous try in the Elland Road Test.

However, 1991 was largely plagued by injury as Alan Jones replaced Warren Ryan as Balmain coach, and though Elias was fit again in 1992, he could not displace Steve Walters from his Test spot and had many competitors for the New South Wales jersey.

1993 was controversial, hit hard by suspension which prevented his re-establishing his representative career, but in 1994 Elias showed some wonderful form in the State of Origin series (man of the match in the last game) and even at times for the struggling Balmain coached by former teammate Wayne Pearce. Elias missed out on selection on the 1994 Kangaroo Tour, and at age 31, he announced his retirement as a player in December.

[edit] Controversy

Despite being diminutive in size compared to many of his opponents, Elias was a tough and aggressive player, and appeared to welcome phyical confrontations. Elias and then South Sydney hooker Mario Fenech had a very competitive rivalry until Fenech left South Sydney in 1991. Elias admitted on The Footy Show on 19 July, 2007, that he was once successful in getting Fenech sent off when he bit his own hand and then claimed the bite was done by Fenech. Elias was also involved in controversial "physical" incidents with Mark Geyer and Chris Mortimer among others.

Elias released his autobiography, Balmain Benny, towards the end of his career, touching on many of the controversial on and off-field incidents in his career including a charge of assault from the mid-1980s that was ultimately dismissed in court.

In 2000 Elias was awarded the Australian Sports Medal for his contribution to Australia's international standing in rugby league.

[edit] Post retirement career

Following his retirement, Elias became a successful businessman as one of Australia's retail mobile phone sales pioneers and began rugby league radio commentary in Sydney. Elias also became the rugby league pundit for now defunct SBS Television 7pm weeknight sports program in the mid-2000s.

During his playing days, Elias was regularly interviewed, and was referred to as the 'cliche king' by rugby league journalist Roy Masters for his love, and occasionally incorrect use of cliches and metaphors.

Elias is currently a member of the Wests Tigers Board along with former teammate [[Paul Sironen]}. He has two children and lives in Sydney, Australia.

[edit] External links

• Benny Elias at the State of Origin official website.