Will Skelton will add a touch of the Western Suburbs Magpies to the Wallabies' World Cup campaign in a few weeks.

The famed rugby league club launched 1970s blood 'n guts legends Tommy Raudonikis and Les Boyd onto the sporting landscape.

Before making his name in rugby, Skelton was a member of the Western Suburbs SG Ball team alongside the likes of Wests Tigers stars James Tedesco, David Nofoaluma and Sauaso Sue and those who watched the under-18s team remember how the big bloke brought the crowd to its feet with his bullocking runs up the middle.

The New Zealand-born wrecking ball, who stands 204 centimetres and weighs between 130 and 140 kilograms, admitted the reason why his rugby-loving father encouraged him to play the 13-man game when he was knee-high to a giraffe in Auckland was to fine-tune his defensive crunch and add it to rugby.

"My dad said to start off playing league and if you want to go to rugby to do that later on in my life," Skelton said. "I wasn't too sure why he said that but I realised when we were in New Zealand you don't start tackling [in rugby] until the under nines, but in rugby league you can start in the under sixes.

"I started in the under sevens and I always thought I'd be in league, but I took that different path. I played in the Balmain Harold Matthews and then the Wests Magpies SG Ball. I played two seasons there and I thought I would have a go at rugby from there," said Skelton, who played rugby at the same time for a Hills Sports High team that boasted a schoolboys pack that outweighed the Waratahs 923kg to 893kg.

"I went to Sydney University when I was 18 and it was a good experience, they embraced me. I've had five years of solid rugby, learning to get lower [in the scrum] and learning all the techniques and I have enjoyed it, it's been very rewarding."

Skelton said he had no trouble carrying the reputation as a hard hitter after he was suspended for two weeks as a result of his lifting tackle on Crusaders' opposite Sam Whitelock.

​He was also condemned for what the Kiwis alleged were "cheap shots" on Richie McCaw. His Waratahs and Wallabies coach Michael Cheika described his effort that night as nothing more than good old fashioned, hard rugby.

"I play physical and I play hard; I'm very competitive," he said. "Out on the pitch I feel like I'm a nice guy, and off the field. I want to play my game hard and tough.

"That's our identity as the Waratahs, we play our footy physically. I'm not going to change the way I play.

"I just worry about my game and how I play for my team and that's the Wallabies or Waratahs."

Away from crushing opponents with solid hits or trampling them when he takes the ball up, Skelton has a scholarship at the Australian Catholic University and said he doesn't need much motivation to hammer the books.

"I love study, at school it took me away from rugby and league," he said. "Rugby can finish at any time and I think it's very important to have a fall-back plan."