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O'Brien, usually reluctant to talk about recruitment and retention, said of the off-contract Saifiti: "He is not someone we will be letting go."

Restricted by a fractured shoulder blade and broken ankle to just 15 games in seasons 2018 and 2019, Saifiti acknowledged he had reached the crossroads of his career and resolved to leave no stone unturned in the pre-season.

O'Brien labelled him "probably our best forward" after Newcastle's trial games and the Nines, and the towering front-rower, who turned 24 yesterday, followed that with two standout games off the bench in Newcastle's wins against the Warriors and Wests Tigers in rounds one and two.

"I wasn't planning on the season being suspended, but we sort of knew something like this could happen, judging by the other sports around the world," Saifiti said.

"I knew that all I could control was how I trained and played.

"We had two trials and the Nines, and I was happy with how I played in them.

"I took that into our first two competition games, and hopefully it showed the club that I'm still keen to play NRL and I want to be here.

"Hopefully if we come back in late May, like they're saying, I can carry on as I was and play some more good footy."

Saifiti told the Newcastle Herald he was trying not to dwell on his contractual uncertainty.

Not only is he a free agent at season's end, but at this stage the salary cap post-coronavirus is yet to be established.

"It's not only me in that position," he said.

"I kind of took the attitude that I was either going to get signed or I wasn't, so there was no point worrying about it. All I could do was control what I needed to control. Obviously the sooner we can get back to playing games the better.

"I just have to be ready to go when it happens."

Saifiti said O'Brien had given him "little hints" that he was in the club's long-terms plans but there had been nothing formal.

"I think he's been happy with how I was going," he said. "He told me they're interested, but nothing to the stage where they made me an offer or anything like that.

"I just need to get back to playing the brand of footy I was, and keep putting my hand up every week."

After five weeks of training in isolation, Saifiti is looking forward to rejoining his teammates.

At this stage they are expected to regroup on Monday for a biosecurity briefing and hope to be cleared to resume full training on Tuesday.

"You take it for granted, being at training with the boys," he said.

"Even if we're getting flogged and it seems hard at the time, you miss not being able to do it.

"It'll be good to get back into a bit of a normal routine.

"I know all the boys have been training hard, because we stay in touch."

Saifiti was confident the Knights could be match ready within three weeks of resuming full training.

"It's not just the contact, but it's the footy skills as well," he said.

"Obviously we need to work on handling the footy, and the kickers need to practise their kicking, and tackling practice as well.

"It's about getting all that muscle memory back."