Elli Johnston hard launches romance with boxer beau

The Carlton legend’s daughter has found love again, sharing happy snaps with her new amateur boxer boyfriend following her high-profile split from disgraced ex-husband Brett Finch.

Elli Johnston, the daughter of Carlton legend Wayne Johnston, has found love again.

The former wife of disgraced NRL star Brett Finch, “hard launched” her new relationship with amateur boxer Liam Hillen to social media this week.

Floods of well wishes from Aussie celebs and friends from Nadia Bartel to Alex Fevola flooded in for the former model and influencer.

Johnston posted a picture of her and Hillen together with the caption “water what waters you.”

It’s understood the pair have been dating for some months.

Hillen, a former amateur boxer and father, also posted a picture of the two together saying “So grateful for you and everything you do.”

Elli Johnston with amateur boxer Liam Hillen. Picture: Instagram

Johnston has previously been linked to Tiger’s superstar Dustin Martin and has always been well liked and popular on the Melbourne social scene.

The happy news comes after a tumultuous time for Johnston.

It was revealed in May last year that Johnston and Finch – who share a daughter – had split after five years of marriage.

Johnston had initially stood by the former NRL star after he was arrested in December 2021 and charged with using a carriage service to publish or promote child abuse after officers intercepted his conversations in an web chat room called FastMeet.

The pair ‘hard launched’ their relationship on social media this week. Picture: Instagram

Finch was snared in a wider investigation conducted under the banner of Strike Force Hank by officers from the NSW Child Abuse and Sex Crimes Squad.

In November 2022 Judge Phillip Mahony sentenced Finch to a $1000 two-year good behaviour bond in Sydney’s Downing Centre District Court.

Finch had been under the influence of drugs when he left a series of “twisted” messages on a gay chat line describing a desire to perform sex acts on boys as young as 12.

In court Finch admitted feeling disgust at himself for making the calls and said his only intention had been to obtain cocaine as his drug problem ‘spiralled out of control’.

He believed the messages would connect him to people who could supply him cocaine.

The NSW District Court heard when Finch’s online offending occurred he was consuming as much as 25 grams of cocaine per week, which is considered dangerously high usage.

Finch has spoken publicly about his past problems with alcohol and drugs.

In January this year Finch was back in court after he was charged with failing to comply with his reporting obligations in relation to the good behaviour bond.

He had struggled to get a job after the child abuse charges – he was knocked back on an estimated 300 job applications – and it was reported earlier this year that he was trying to slowly rebuild his life working in a forklift training centre,

Finch played 270 NRL games in a 14-year career including a premiership with the Melbourne Storm in 2009. He also played three State of Origins for NSW.