Rugby league was a different beast in the 1970s and one club stood out for having some of the most infamous criminals Australia has ever seen.
Foundation club Newtown officially rebranded from the ‘Bluebags’ to the ‘Jets’ in 1973 to adopt a more modern, commercial identity.
But that name change will forever be shrouded in infamy, as the dressing sheds became more like the set of an Underbelly series because of the characters that would lace up their boots there.
The 1975 Newtown Jets produced a roster from which some would go on to commit shocking crimes, including murder.
Some became household names for all the wrong reasons, while others spent years trying to escape the shadows of allegations, investigations and scandal.
The 1975 Newtown Jets team including convicted murderer Chris Dawson (not pictured), drug trafficker Paul Hayward (front row second from left) and armed robber Gary Sullivan (back row, second from left)
One would be convicted of a string of armed robberies after stealing millions of dollars.
Another would endure a nightmare inside a notorious Thai prison after a drug-smuggling operation went disastrously wrong.
A third would become the central figure in one of Australia’s most notorious murder cases in a saga that gripped the nation for decades.
Garry Sullivan
Former Newtown star Garry Sullivan was jailed for a string of armed robberies, before escaping prison and going on the run for 32 years
Sullivan dodged police for over three decades, including spending 20 years on the Gold Coast
If there was one player who embodied the extraordinary double life that emerged from Newtown’s infamous 1975 dressing room, it was Garry Sullivan.
On the field, Sullivan was everything a rugby league club could want. The tough lock forward rose from Kurri Kurri to become an Australian representative, earning selection for the Kangaroos after just six first-grade appearances for Newtown.
He played seven Tests for Australia, represented New South Wales and featured in Australia’s victorious 1970 World Cup campaign before lining up in the 1972 World Cup final against Great Britain.
By the mid-1970s, Sullivan had established himself as one of the hardest forwards in the game. Few players in the Newtown dressing room could match his football pedigree.
But the chapters that followed would make his rugby league career almost a footnote.
A decade after wearing the green and gold, Sullivan had swapped football fields for armed robberies.
Between 1985 and 1991, Sullivan and his stepfather Bill Orchard carried out a string of armed hold-ups across Queensland, targeting banks and armoured cash vehicles. By the time police finally caught up with them, the pair had stolen more than $3million.
Reports at the time claimed they were responsible for six of the biggest robberies in Queensland history. The motive was said to be gambling.
Police arrested Sullivan (pictured right) on the Gold Coast in May after reopening a cold case relating to a 1994 armed robbery in Melbourne
Pictured: Police attend the scene after the Armaguard hold-up that Garry Sullivan has been charged over
The crime spree eventually came crashing down in 1991 when Sullivan and Orchard were convicted of multiple armed robbery offences and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
He served about two years before escaping from the Borallon Correctional Centre in 1993, spending over three decades living in hiding, which included two decades on the Gold Coast.
Yet even that was not the end of the story.
In May 2026, the 78-year-old was arrested on the Gold Coast after Victoria Police reopened their investigation into the armed robbery of an Armaguard cash collection at Chadstone Shopping Centre in Melbourne in 1994.
Police allege Sullivan was the masked gunman who shot three men before escaping with cash.
Prosecutors have told the court they intend to rely on evidence including recordings allegedly obtained through a secret listening device and telephone intercepts.
Sullivan has been charged with offences including armed robbery, intentionally causing injury, theft and firearms-related offences. The allegations remain before the courts and have not been proven.
Sullivan is allegedly in poor health, with his lawyer telling the court he suffered from a diagnosis of coronary artery disease, mouth cancer and coeliac disease.
Paul Hayward
In his early days, Paul Hayward was known as a tough young half starring for Newtown
The talented footballer found a new hell when he was arrested in Thailand and jailed for possession of heroin
If Garry Sullivan’s story was one of greed and armed robbery, Paul Hayward’s was pure tragedy.
The tough Newtown five-eighth was one of the club’s most popular characters during the 1970s.
A talented footballer and accomplished boxer, Hayward was known as a fearless competitor who mixed professional boxing with rugby league and looked destined for many more years in the game.
Instead, his life unravelled in spectacular fashion.
In October 1978, Hayward was arrested in Bangkok after Thai authorities discovered 8.4 kilograms of heroin. The bust ended his football career instantly and began a nightmare that would consume the rest of his life.
Sentenced to 20 years in prison, Hayward was thrown into Thailand’s notorious Bang Kwang prison, a place feared around the world for its brutal conditions.
More than six years into his sentence, a visiting Australian journalist found a man desperately trying to stay positive while surviving overcrowded cells, disease, poverty and crushing isolation.
Hayward became one of the biggest stories in the country when he was sentenced to 20 years in the infamous Bang Kwang prison
The former footballer admitted he had nobody to blame but himself.
‘I blame myself, I got myself into this,’ he said from behind prison walls.
Yet the punishment extended far beyond the sentence itself.
While imprisoned, Hayward missed watching his children grow up. His youngest daughter was born after his arrest and he had never met her.
Both of his parents died while he was incarcerated. Letters, photographs and memories became his only connection to home.
As the years dragged on, prison took an enormous toll. Reports later emerged that Hayward contracted HIV after using a contaminated heroin syringe while behind bars.
Friends and family watched from afar as the once tough footballer battled to hold himself together.
A royal pardon finally arrived in 1989 after more than a decade in Thai prisons. Freedom should have been the beginning of a new life.
Instead, it marked the beginning of the end.
Unable to properly reconnect with friends, family and ordinary life in Sydney, Hayward struggled after returning home. The years inside had left scars that never healed.
In May 1992, just three years after his release, Hayward died from a heroin overdose at the age of 38.
Chris Dawson
Chris Dawson jumped codes from rugby along to play for the Newtown Jets
His life took a dark turn when his wife Lynette vanished and he was charged with her murder
If Garry Sullivan became one of Queensland’s most notorious armed robbers, Chris Dawson would become the face of one of Australia’s most infamous murder cases.
The former Newtown forward spent five seasons with the Jets after switching from rugby union.
A member of the club’s 1973 Championship-winning side, Dawson later left football and built a respected career as a physical education teacher on Sydney’s northern beaches.
For years, he appeared to be living the perfect suburban life. Then his wife Lynette vanished.
The 33-year-old mother of two disappeared from the couple’s Bayview home in January 1982 and was never seen again.
Dawson claimed she had walked out on the family and joined a commune. Police accepted the explanation and the case languished for decades. But suspicion never disappeared.
Just days after Lynette vanished, Dawson moved a teenage student and family babysitter into the matrimonial home. The schoolgirl had been involved in a sexual relationship with Dawson while he was her teacher.
For almost 40 years, Lynette’s disappearance remained one of Australia’s most enduring mysteries.
Dawson was finally convicted of the murder of his wife in 2022 after a true-crime podcast resurrected interest in the case
Everything changed in 2018 when the true-crime podcast The Teacher’s Pet reignited public interest in the case and generated worldwide attention. Months later, Dawson was arrested and charged with murder.
The case that followed gripped the nation.
Lynette’s body has never been found, but in 2022 Supreme Court Justice Ian Harrison found Dawson guilty of murdering his wife.
The judge ruled Dawson killed Lynette to remove what he described as an obstacle to a new life with the teenage student he had become obsessed with.
The findings were damning. Justice Harrison said Dawson treated Lynette as ‘completely dispensable’ and killed her for the ‘selfish and cynical purpose’ of pursuing his desired future.
Dawson was sentenced to 24 years in prison with a non-parole period of 18 years.
The legal blows kept coming. In 2023 he was also found guilty of unlawful sexual activity with the teenage student while working as her teacher, resulting in a further prison sentence.
His appeal against the murder conviction was dismissed in 2024, with appeal judges finding there was no reasonable explanation for Lynette’s disappearance other than Dawson’s guilt.
Now 77, Dawson remains behind bars and is unlikely to ever walk free. His non-parole period expires in 2041, when he will be in his nineties, and NSW’s no-body, no-parole laws present another major hurdle to his release.
