KL Iro's childhood shaped him as Cronulla targets victory against Melbourne for the NRL grand final.
KL Iro will draw on a childhood spent punching above his weight against men in the rough and tumble battleground of rugby league on the Cook Islands, as Cronulla aim to down Melbourne and book their spot in this year's NRL grand final.
Nicknamed "Poto" - the Maori word for small - by his schoolmates, Iro was so slight his father Kevin, who enjoyed a storied league career in England, reckoned his son would have had more luck carving out a profession as a jockey.
Eventually Iro shot up and filled out and now stands at 186cm and tips the scales at 97kg.