Newcastle Knights NRLW coach Casey Bromilow hopes All Stars hit out for nine players boosts season campaign

No other NRLW club had as many players in Saturday's match, won by the Indigenous side 18-8, and with no trials being played between the clubs before round one Bromilow hopes his side can reap the benefits.

"Unfortunately just with the timing of the season and everything, it's been really hard to actually have a proper trial," Bromilow said.

"The fact that we have nine players that have now had a decent trial and a decent hit out, it gave us a really good look at who is match fit.

"There is still a couple of little things from the game that we can pick up on and elements where we can make players better, but it was really good to have players playing footy."

Bromilow said all nine Knights players were impressive in the All Stars game but he paid particular recognition to Indigenous front rower Caitlan Johnston.

"It was a really good spectacle, both sides had a red-hot crack," he said. "Caitlin Johnston was the best player on-field, for me, if it wasn't for Jaime Chapman scoring two tries I think Caitlin would have been named player of the match.

"She was excellent; led from the front, very strong, very powerful and hit hard in defence too. I think their will be a few girls waking up today going, 'yeah, Caitlan Johnston got me'."

The Knights' Autumn-Rain Stephens scored two tries playing on the wing for the Maori, while Kirra Dibb kicked three conversions for the Indigenous side.

The Knights NRLW squad officially came together in mid-January and while their pre-season has been disrupted by a COVID outbreak, Bromilow said the women were "jumping out of their skin" to play their first game.

The six-team competition was meant to be played late last year but was postponed because of COVID.

Bromilow said it wasn't ideal to have not played a trial before the club's inaugural season, but his side were preparing as best they could.

"Whilst it's not ideal and we'd love to be able to have some trial games and get everyone a little bit more match fit, everyone is in the same boat and no one has been able to have a trial yet," he said.

"We had a little internal hit out a couple of weeks ago where they just played each other.

"The weekend just gone would have been the perfect time for a trial game, but with the All Stars it was too hard to organise."

NRLW players are contracted for three months. The competition is not a full-time endeavour and most players work before training in the afternoons.

The Knights squad is made up of 10 local women and 16 who have relocated for the contract period, including from Queensland and New Zealand.

Bromilow said some women who had moved to Newcastle were already considering a more permanent stay given the next NRLW season will be played later this year.

All three NRLW matches in round one will be played at McDonald Jones Stadium on Sunday week. The Knights play the Eels at 3.45pm.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: