Former Newcastle coach Rick Stone believes every player needs at least three summers to reach peak physicality in the NRL - but that still doesn't mean son Sam isn't ready for it.
Sam gets his first crack at the big time when he makes his debut off the bench in the Knights' season-opener against the Warriors on Sunday, and his old man couldn't be happier.
"He told me about a week ago that was he was going to play, which was good. (Nathan) Brown told him nice and early," Stone told AAP.
"He got some good support from senior players and a bit of faith from the coaches, which is nice. His first full-time pre-season was a bit of a learning curve for him.
"It'll be interesting to see how he goes."
Despite only being 19, Sam already stands at an imposing 194 centimetres and weighs in at 100 kilograms, however Rick insists there is plenty of room for his son to grow.
A former head coach at the club in separate stints between 2009-11 and then again in 2015, Rick is of the belief that it takes at least three years for youngsters to develop an NRL body.
"He's a tall and athletic back-rower, six-foot-four, which is pretty tall. He's got some good intelligence, good skill, reads the game well, and he's a good talker," Rick said.
"But the biggest area improvement for most young blokes is that physicality because they're still developing and evolving physically. It takes about three fulltime pre-seasons to get to a stage where they can compete with the older blokes."
Sam pulled on the club colours for the first time at the Auckland Nines earlier this year before impressing coach Nathan Brown enough during the trials to earn his NRL debut.
Rick, who currently coaches at Huddersfield Giants in England, concedes a match-up against the Warriors in Auckland will be a stern test for the back-rower.
"The Nines is a good opportunity for coaches to blood young blokes like that. It's a environment that's still pretty tough, but it gives them a chance to take the physicality part," Rick said.
"I think he'll acquit himself alright. It's always a big ask to go to Auckland on any day - first round, everyone's pretty healthy and pretty energised.
"The Knights have shown a bit of form in their trial against the Raiders two weeks ago and hopefully they can perform well."
Sam joins fellow rookie Luke Yates in making their debuts on Sunday, taking the amount of local juniors in the side to eight.
"Newcastle loves seeing their own play, which is great. Hopefully he can play a few more games and play a game at home, I'm sure he'll have plenty of mates come along," Rick said.
