Before Will Genia, Michael Hooper and Taniela Tupou were Wallabies stars, they were kids with dreams

They weren’t always our green and gold heroes - take a look at some of the Wallabies biggest names in their younger days when their rugby careers were just dreams.

2003 copy photo of new Wallabies halfback Will Genia and his brother Frank with a haul of red emperor fish while growing up in PNG.

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When a barefooted kid named Will Genia was proudly holding his catch of red emperor in Papua New Guinea, he never imagined fishing for three Rugby World Cups.

He was a youngster still more infatuated by the leadership steel of cricket’s Steve Waugh when he made a visit to his family village of Lalaura from boarding school at Brisbane Boys’ College.

The Courier-Mail has unearthed a wonderful selection of pictures of their early lives before Genia became a champion halfback and his fellow Wallabies started their rise to the gold jersey

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Will Genia (right) with his brother Frank and a catch of red emperor fish in PNG.

Back then Genia’s leadership model was not a rugby player but a cricketer.

“Growing up, Steve Waugh was always an idol,” Genia said.

“He was tough and led by example. When it was backs to the wall, he kept his calm and absorbed the pressure.’’

They are fine traits for any scrap just like the one the Wallabies will find themselves in against England in a sudden-death quarter-final in Oita next Saturday.

Wallabies skipper Michael Hooper was a cherubic five-year-old at Wests in Brisbane, when his father was on the road as a salesman, before he made Sydney’s northern beaches his home and the NSW Waratahs his calling.

Hooper played for a few years in Brisbane before his family moved to Sydney/

Flanker Lukhan Salakaia-Loto grew up in Auckland where the Blues were his first team and being snapped in a photo with All Blacks idol Jerome Kaino was a pinnacle moment.

Jerome Kaino was one of Salakaia-Loto’s heroes.

You can never picture Taniela Tupou as anything but a 132kg powerhouse with palm tree stumps for thighs but he was a little mummy’s boy growing up in Tonga.

He still is at heart because part of his $10,000 per Test payments last year went towards rebuilding his mother Loisi’s home after Cyclone Gita last year ripped through the corrugated iron and timber of the family’s tiny village outside of Nuku’alofa.

“One of the reasons why I wanted to play for the Wallabies was watching George Smith, Toutai Kefu, Tatafu (Polota-Nau) and Keps (Sekope Kepu) on TV in Tonga when I was a young boy,” Tupou said.

Wallabies powerhouse Taniela Tupou (at front in red) as a child in Tonga. Picture: Supplied

Samu Kerevi could have been strutting around at soccer rather than rugby because father Nimi represented his island nation at football.

It took Kerevi’s move to Australia at age seven to flame his rugby genes: “My old man played soccer for Fiji so it was a different road I took.”

Samu Kerevi (right) was a talented soccer player growing up. Picture: Instagram

Just as easily, James O’Connor could have ended up playing rugby league because he was an attacking atom on the Gold Coast in junior league for Burleigh Bears.

Queensland’s 1982 Origin hooker John Dowling pitched the league-loving kid’s case to the Brisbane Broncos when he was 15 yet O’Connor was knocked back as too small.

O’Connor was a multi-sport talent.

“He’s the superstar that league lost,’’ Dowling said.

O’Connor had flashing schoolboy feet under a head of sun-bleached blond hair but Dowling is still right: “You judge a kid by the heart in his chest.”