The task of facing reigning NRLW premiers Brisbane has been made all the more difficult for Newcastle after props Caitlan Johnston and Phoebe Desmond were ruled out of Sunday's game.
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Johnston, a key player for the Knights who captained the Indigenous All Stars last month, has suffered an elbow injury and is expected to miss at least two weeks.
Desmond, who came off the bench and scored a try in the 13-12 loss to the Parramatta Eels last week, tested positive for COVID on Tuesday and will only miss the Broncos match at WIN Stadium in Wollongong.
Knights coach Casey Bromilow said the two players were "huge losses".
"We saw that in the All Stars game, that Caitlin is potentially one of the best front-rowers in the game," Bromilow said.
"And Phoebe sort of made a name for herself on the weekend just by playing that tough, gritty role that we needed in the squad."
Kiwis Maitua Feterika and Ngatokotoru Arakua will come into the side to replace Johnston and Desmond respectively.
"They've both played NRLW before," Bromilow said. "Ngatokotoru has won a competition with the Broncos and Maitua has played with both the Broncos and Dragons ... and was in a previous season the leading player for run metres.
"Full faith ... that they will hit the ground running and I think they will surprise a few people as well."
The Broncos, who have won the past three NRLW competitions, beat the Sydney Roosters 20-4 in the opening round last weekend and are heavy favourites to retain the title this season.
Bromilow wants his players to take "confidence and belief" into the game and not hold back against their more seasoned opponents.
"The Broncos are a really big forward pack [and] they've got some classy outside backs," Bromilow said.
"Watching their game on the weekend, they relied heavily on a couple of really big middles to go forward and then the class of [halves] Tarryn Aiken and Ali Brigginshaw shifting it out wide.
"I think they play similar structures to us and the reality is, for us, we've just got to try to match it and take it to them. Challenging them, that's the big key."
Knights halfback Tahlulah Tillett, who made her NRLW debut against the Eels last week in front of her parents and brother who flew down from Cairns, said it had been "devastating" to lose the club's first match to a field goal in the final minute. She was comfortable on debut and stoked to set up housemate and team captain Romy Teitzel for the club's first try, but felt she needed to "take more control" of the game.
Tillett, 22, will be around family again this weekend, coming up against her cousin Hagiga Mosby, who plays wing for the Broncos.
"She's made a name for herself in touch football and rugby sevens as well, she's a very, very talented young athlete coming through and I'm excited to see where she can go in rugby league," Tillett said of Mosby.
"I've never played against her, I've always played with her in the same touch footy teams back home. So it will be a bit weird running out in different jerseys. We're quite close ... I'm very proud of her."
The Knights face the Broncos at WIN Stadium in Wollongong at midday on Sunday.
