COVID-19 cases continue to impact Knights players, but NRLW training is expected to finally get underway in Newcastle on Monday ahead of the club's inaugural campaign.
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Coach Casey Bromilow says five players find themselves sidelined, undergoing periods of isolation after testing positive for coronavirus, however, the bulk of Newcastle's newly assembled women's squad will be gathering together for the first time.
It comes less than two months out from the Knights' season opener against Parramatta at McDonald Jones Stadium on February 27 and following last year's COVID-interrupted preparation, which saw the competition postponed and many players return home both overseas and interstate.
The Knights conducted some training sessions for local players during the second half of 2021 but Monday sees the larger group in the same place at the same time, marking another significant step along the road towards joining the NRLW ranks.
"It's exciting. We've been looking forward to it because we had the false start, then sent everyone home and we wished it was January already so we could just get into it and get started again," Bromilow told the Newcastle Herald.
"I think that's the main thing that everyone's feeling, lets just get underway and lets just get it going again."
Bromilow said multiple women's players at the Knights have recently experienced COVID, which has also hit the men's squad and club staff.
"We've had a number of positive cases over the last month and we have five active at the moment," he said.
"So unfortunately there's five girls who wont be able to attend tomorrow, but that's just the world we live in at the moment."
The Knights coach admits there's been a range of symptoms on display, but remains confident players can bounce back.
"One of the girls who tested positive on the rapid test, she's got no symptoms. She's a little bit frustrated because she's feeling fine," Bromilow said.
"But a couple of the other girls who had it were bed ridden for two-or-three days. You never know what sort of reaction you're going to have.
"The good part is everybody has been up and about after a couple of days in our worst cases. They're all reasonably young and healthy athletes."
Bromilow says the Knights have 24 contracted players eligible to take part in NRLW in 2022.
More than half of those players have been recruited from either New Zealand or Queensland.
"On Friday we picked up five of the New Zealand group coming over and there's a couple of girls down from Queensland already," he said.
"They're all staying together, getting around each other and familiarising themselves with one another again."
Bromilow said the Knights won't play any trial matches in the lead up to round one.
Newcastle players are expected to feature in the women's All Stars fixture, Maori versus Indigenous, in Sydney on February 12.
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