The Newcastle Herald understands the second-division leaders had their application for promotion to the top league approved at a Northern NSW Football board meeting on Wednesday night, almost two years after they were denied a place following a review of the competition and clubs' eligibility under a wide-ranging criteria.

The elevation of Cooks Hill, who play out of the Fearnley Dawes Athletic Centre near No.2 Sportsground, is expected to be announced in the coming weeks.

Head coach David Tanchevski, an NPL grand final winner with Lambton Jaffas, was yet to hear the result of the board meeting but said the club had put in a submission for promotion and had met the criteria after working closely with NNSWF over the past two years.

The decision will bring the NNSW NPL back to an 11-team league, which it was from 2017 to 2019 after Lake Macquarie were promoted following an application process for the second three-year licence period for clubs.

Newcastle Jets Youth sides switched to the NSW NPL in 2020, leaving the competition with 10 teams.

Cooks Hill were Northern League One premiers in 2017, '18 and '19 after rising to the second tier in 2015. They were among six clubs in 2019 who applied for promotion before the NNSWF board voted to retain the NPL structure.

At the time, NNSWF ruled out the immediate return of promotion-relegation after deciding not enough second-division clubs were compliant on criteria covering facilities, youth development, finance, coaching, council support, administration and performance.

NNSWF conducted the same process in 2016, again in the hope of having two compliant NPL divisions to enable the return of promotion-relegation.

The system was last in place in 2015, after which the lack of compliant second-division clubs led NNSWF to put it on hold.

Cooks Hill's approval is not expected to foreshadow an immediate return to annual promotion-relegation.

After the 2019 review, NPL participation agreements, reviewed and granted annually, replaced the three-year licencing system.

"The board will consider the composition of the premier competitions annually by introducing an ongoing reporting system, which will monitor the overall performance of clubs in relation to the key criteria," NNSWF chief David Eland said at the time.

Tanchevski, who steered Jaffas to State League promotion in 2012 and also coached NPL at Charlestown Azzurri, said the prospect of taking Cooks Hill to the top division was "pretty exciting".

He hoped to have confirmation soon to begin planning for next season.

Cooks Hill are on 35 points from 14 games in Northern League One this year and sit above New Lambton on goal difference only.

They already boast a squad with deep NPL experience through players like Robbie Turnbull, Cody Carroll, Lachlan Pasquale, Tom Walker, Jamie Byrnes and Tom Smart.