Does anyone who watches the academy know when this bloke is likley going to be ready for the step up to Super League?

Looks like a beast and if he runs his weight and height could be like a new signing for us.

He's still only 16 years of age and nowhere near ready yet.There's lot of work to do on the defensive side of his game.

Amazing the size of him considering he's 16.

He's a real handful at academy level and has plenty of potential but it's far too early to be talking about first team call ups. There are plenty of players who have excelled as juniors due to their size advantage only to struggle when they come up against people of similar size. Iain Thornley was a bit of a beast for the academy as he was such a strong centre but he never really lived up to expectations.

He's got a massive size advantage that he won't have in first team rugby

Unless he keeps growing.

16?

He's got to be kidding us like Stanley Gene!! Ha.

I have seen Sammy a few times on Wigan TV and he is indeed a big lad, I saw him live for the first time in the juniors game at Catalan.
He is such a lump I am surprised he is as Rogues says only 16, I only saw the last 15 min of the Cats match, I don't know how many mins he had played but he was really blowing. I think it is a case of he has such a huge frame he hasn't got the strength and stamina to do it justice, he wants to be brought along slowly so as to fill that frame with muscle as well as slowly build up his stamina. The first time I saw him on Wigan I thought I was seeing a young Sonny Nickle. Boo.
As for blowing , after supping for 2/3 hours in the town centre I went to the ground and went into one of those little kiosks where you purchased a token for your drink. I chose a yellow one which turned out to be for the VINO (white wine) and supped the plastic cup full, then I made my way to my seat. I found the isle I was on and craned my neck upwards, the row I was on was very close to the top, I crawled up and found my seat before started to watch the junior match.
The first thing I noticed was two Sonny Nickles as well as the other players, at the end of that match I decided I wanted the gents, how the hell I got down without breaking my neck I will never know.
After visiting the gents I decided I was safer at ground level and watched the first team match from the little terrace in the corner at the bottom of the stand.

I remember Ben Austin was a leading prop for our great academy side featuring Gilbart, Burgess, Tierney and Hampshire however he was released and didnt get a chance at first team.

Forwards to tend to develop later than backs and this is compensated for by longer careers.

I hope Kabila can do it. He looks like a Gadwin Springer type player and historically our club hasnt been great at producing props.

For those who watch him and have watched the academy for years, do you think he will make the first team eventually? Most academy players dont.

Just looked at the video of Frank Paul Nuusala training and it looks like Sammy Kabila is training with the first team. Unless ive mistaken him for someone else. Has anyone else spotted this?

Agreed. Simon haughton had real issues when he got to the big boys. Record breaking jnr but couldn't hack it in the 1st team long term. Real pity his career tailed away so dramatically after a really positive start.
So let's hope this lad can learn from that.

Sammy is good with the ball in hand; good turn of pace, good step and has a good offload.

He needs to improve his fitness levels (stamina) and hit harder in the tackle.

He would have to be probably the biggest rugby league player ever to enjoy the size advantage he has now.Imo being so big at an early stage will have a negative impact on your development.

For me he a lacks a bit of game awareness, he could do with loosing a bit of puppy fat and getting some aggression.

And if he's 16 so am I.

I watched Ben Austin a few months ago and thought he along with Shelford deserved to be in the first team ahead of Burke, I'm surprised Austin has been released if that's true.

Very true.