Power Play

Peter Solness for TIME

SIZE MATTERS: In Sydney's west, Zac Dalton, center, is glad to be on the same under-10s league team as William Lee Namulauulu, left, and Henry Nafoi

There was always the chance that Sonny Bill Williams would be special. Old-timers remember his maternal grandfather, Bill Woolsey, as one of the toughest men to wear the New Zealand rugby league jersey. Williams, who's part Samoan, started playing at the age of eight for Auckland's Mt. Albert club and was soon turning heads with precocious displays of power and skill. He was in primary school when spotted by a scout working for the Australian National Rugby League club Canterbury, which brought him over to Sydney's southwest when he was 15. Three years later, Williams was an NRL star...

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