Knights forward Adam Elliott hopes to return against Parramatta next week after what will be a seven-game layoff he has labelled a lesson in injury management.
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Elliott has been sidelined since Newcastle's opening-round loss to the Warriors when he reinjured his groin, an issue from last year he spent much of the pre-season recovering from.
The 28-year-old, who joined the Knights on a three-year deal after a season at Canberra last year, said it had been a frustrating saga.
"I had a bit of OP [Osteitis pubis] overload, but then I suffered an incident in the semi-final last year when I sort of got hit late and did the splits. I tore the ligaments that hold your pubis symphysis together," he explained.
"It's a pretty complicated one.
"I worked all pre-season to get that right. I had a hiccup along the way with an ankle injury, which meant I went into round one pretty cold.
"I hadn't run too much in the few weeks leading into it because of the ankle and redid the groin, or the pelvis.
"Very frustrated, but these guys have been working real hard with me and we're getting close to coming back."
A versatile forward with 126 games of experience, Elliott was somewhat ruing playing in round one but said he felt right to go before the game in New Zealand.
"I've played injured before, I just haven't had this injury before," he said of his groin problem.
"The ankle was probably worse, I strapped it up and was ready to go.
"But it was 15 or 20 minutes into the game that I did the groin again. It was at the back of my mind, I thought I was right to go.
"A bit of a lesson to me around treating different injuries differently. But the way I'm going about it now, we're ticking absolutely every box and I won't play unless I'm ready to go."
Elliott still played, remarkably, 55 minutes against the Warriors, stepping up after the Knights lost back-rower Tyson Frizell to a head-knock in the 14th minute.
He has been forced to train mostly on his own over the past seven weeks, patiently completing his pain-staking recovery. He's also had to ride the team's mixed results from the sidelines.
"It's been really hard not training with the team," he said.
"I've been working out in the gym on my alone a lot. I don't mind working hard, but you play this stuff and love it because of being around your teammates.
"But I've got light at the end of the tunnel now."
Elliott trained with the team this week but never considered himself a chance to face North Queensland in Townsville on Saturday, saying there wasn't "enough time leading into this game" to feel fully confident.
"I know what we've got to tick off before [I] can play," he said.
"The boys are going really well and we'll have Jacob [Saifiti] and Kalyn [Ponga] back.
"It will be a big boost for us and hopefully I can provide a bit of a boost the following week.
"Hopefully get myself primed ready to go for Parramatta."
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