Will Skelton’s Wallaby ambition has the support of his cousin and former All Black Brad Mika

THERE’S at least one reason why former All Black Brad Mika believes his cousin Will Skelton can handle a step up to Test footy - it’s in the genes.

Will Skelton during NSW Waratahs Super Rugby training at Moore Park, Sydney. Pic Brett Costello

THERE’S at least one reason why Brad Mika believes his cousin Will Skelton can handle a step up to Test footy while still a Super Rugby rookie.

It’s in the genes. Right alongside the marker for being massive, presumably.

“I reckon he could handle it, for sure,” Mika said.

“Being a young kid, I was sort of in the same situation when I made my Super 12 debut, and then made the All Blacks in the same year.

“You are young but mixing it with the big guys, you can still be pretty unaffected by it all.”

Mika was 21 when he was taken on New Zealand’s Spring Tour of Europe in 2002 as a greenhorn lock, and won three Test caps under coach John Mitchell.

Back home few were prouder of Mika’s achievements than his nine-year-old cousin and biggest fan Will, whose paternal aunt is Mika’s mum Jane.

After moving to Australia, Skelton quickly grew up — and up and up — to be a giant professional rugby player as well and with a 135kg and 2.01m frame is one of the few who looks down on 1.98m Mika.

Just as Skelton used to religiously watch Mika’s games for Auckland, now Mika tries to catch every minute that his “little” cousin plays for the Waratahs and last week he felt the same family pride when the Wallabies’ squad was named for the June Test series.

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“Our family wasn’t too sure, but I got on and checked out the website, and saw my old mate’s face the bottom there,” Mika said.

“Everyone is pretty stoked. We’ve all been watching him since the start of the Super XV, and he looks like he’s gone better in every game, which is good. He’s a big unit. It’s bloody good to see him going that well.”

It would be easy to imagine a giant young Skelton battling with the older Mika in the backyard, but not so.

“He actually wasn’t overly big when he was young. I think he got a bit taller and bigger later in life,” Mika recalls.

“But when he was young, we were close. He was like a little brother to me. Their family would come and support me in all my games.”

Skelton switched to rugby from league late in his teens, and after stints in the NSW and Australian academies, he made his Waratahs debut last year.

This season his impressive rise has continued at a great pace, with many calling for Skelton’s mix of raw size and surprising skill to be thrown into battle against France.

Mika, who is now retired, said he’s not shocked by his relative’s sudden climb.

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“I think it’s the structure you have over there, with the academies and what have you, it’s a bloody good system. Will has definitely benefited from that,” he explains.

Mika said the heat had started to come on among his mates — and even in the Kiwi media — about Skelton’s loss across the Tasman.

“People around here are giving me a hard time “Oh, is that your cousin? Is he older than you? Or is younger?”. I have to say “he’s only 20 mate”,” Mika said.

So he’s the big one that got away?

“The papers over here are starting to say that! There was a graph in the paper saying look at all these players we’ve lost to Aussie,” Mika said.

“Alofa Alofa is my cousin too on my dad’s side, and it had both of their names in there, with me too. Sort of “how could we have had this player, and lost those other two?”.”

Mika’s extended family — the ones who used to be found in the Eden Park terraces — are now even being lost.

“They’ve forgotten about the Blues because Willie and Alofa are playing, they’re rooting for the Waratahs,” Mika laughs.

“And just quietly, I have jumped on the bandwagon too. I hope they do well.”