After a bleak old season, two belated glimmers of hope have emerged for the Novocastrian faithful at the end of a long, dark tunnel.

First, the performance of Newcastle's NRLW team in progressing to a semi-final against St George Illawarra at Suncorp Stadium - having won four out of five qualifying games - has been a feelgood story to put a smile on the face of even the most disgruntled and disillusioned of supporters.

Ron Griffiths' troops have already captured the imagination, and what a remarkable achievement it will be if they can go from wooden spooners to champions in the space of a season.

Meanwhile, Newcastle's next generation of male players have done their best to spare the blushes of head office by qualifying for the Flegg grand final, in which they will face Penrith at CommBank Stadium on Sunday.

To put it in context, the Knights have not won a Flegg premiership since 1992, when it was an under-19 competition and a young halfback called Andrew Johns was starting to make a name for himself.

A win against Penrith, who in recent years have deservedly been regarded as the benchmark club in terms of junior development, would at least give the Knights some evidence to dispel the theory that their own nursery has fallen into disrepair.

It would seem safe to assume this is a touchy subject with the powers-that-be, perhaps best illustrated by Knights coach Adam O'Brien after two members of the Flegg squad, Krystian Mapapalangi and Oryn Keeley, were promoted to make their NRL debuts in the round-23 loss to Canberra.

"There's a good group of kids down there," O'Brien said after that game.

"I know everyone wants to comment about all the ones that we've let go, but there's a good group there that we kept.

"But [the critics] would rather feed on the negatives at the moment."

Negative as some of the commentary may have been - and I'll plead guilty to that charge - I'm happy to argue with anyone who wants to claim it is unwarranted.

Blooding two rookies, long after Newcastle had bowed out of the finals race, is hardly a rock-solid validation of any pathways program. The phrase "too little, too late" springs to mind.

Along with Leo Thompson, Mapapalangi and Keeley took Newcastle's tally of NRL debutants this season to three.

Meanwhile, four players who were discarded by the Knights - Grant Anderson (Melbourne), Zac Hosking (Brisbane), Jacob Kiraz (Canterbury) and Zac Woolford (Canberra) - graduated to first grade at rival clubs.

And therein lies the point of this column.

Winning an under-21 competition is little more than a sugar hit.

The real issue is how many of those players stay with Newcastle and develop into long-term NRL regulars.

By all accounts, as well as Mapapalangi and Keeley, the likes of Australian Schoolboys representative Ethan Ferguson, Paul Bryan, Max Bradbury, Myles Martin, Chris Vea'ila and Riley Jones are all seen as potential top-liners.

If so, a successful new era, based around local products, might be just a few years down the track.

The concern, however, is whether they will fulfill their potential at Newcastle, or whether rival clubs will offer them greater opportunities.

All of which brings me back to the Prime Minister's XIII, who will clash with Papua New Guinea at Suncorp Stadium on Sunday.

There is not a Knight to been found in the 20-player squad, a reflection, no doubt, on a season in which they won just six games and finished in 14^th position.

Yet PM's coach Mal Meninga has named three players with Newcastle connections: Josh King (Melbourne), Max King (Canterbury) and Beau Fermor (Gold Coast).

Singleton junior Josh King played 78 NRL games for Newcastle but it was not until this season, when he moved to Melbourne Storm, that he became a regular starting player.

Max King, a former West Maitland Wallaroo, played under-18s for the Knights and recently told my colleague Max McKinney his childhood dream was to sign "a lifelong deal" with Newcastle.

Instead he has forged a career with Gold Coast, Melbourne and now the Bulldogs.

Fermor, signed from Melbourne, spent two seasons in Newcastle's NRL squad before he eventually requested a release to join the Titans, with whom he made his top-grade debut and has since established himself as one of the most promising back-rowers in the competition.

As O'Brien said earlier in the season: "You can't keep them all."

While that logic is undeniable, Newcastle's greatest successes have always been based around junior development and retention, rather than recruitment.

It is unrealistic, of course, to expect any club to field a team comprising exclusively home-grown players.

Knights fans can only hope that, irrespective of the result of Sunday's Jersey Flegg grand final, a nucleus of players emerge capable of taking their embattled club back to the future.