OLIVIA Higgins still can't believe the support Newcastle's NRLW side received last season.
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In their first campaign, the Knights didn't win a game and ran dead last.
But six months later, in their second season, they lost just one match and rode a wave of momentum to the club's first NRLW title.
By grand final day, the hard-working and skilful team had garnered the respect and support of the club's broader fan base and the community at-large.
Hundreds turned out to welcome the team bus back to Newcastle late that night and a few days later at a civic reception at Town Hall.
"I'd played with the Roosters prior to that, so it was different to win a premiership with a team where I'd lived my whole life," Higgins said, reflecting on the side's achievement this week.
"I grew up going for the Knights, I still support the Knights. It was really special.
"But I think we did it in a way that we can be really proud of. It wasn't easy; we had injuries, we had girls unsure if they could play games.
"I didn't expect the community to back us the way that they did. To go back after that grand final, and have that many people at NEX, the club, was really cool.
"It was something I didn't think would happen."
Unsurprisingly, 30-year-old Higgins is keen for more of the same this year.
The dummy-half, one of several Hunter products who returned home to the Knights last season, has only re-signed for the 2023 campaign but says she has no real interest in playing elsewhere.
She believes the club has assembled a roster capable of competing for a consecutive premiership.
"I think we have a well-rounded side with a lot of depth," she said.
"I think last year when we had a few injuries, we'd stress a little bit. In key positions, we need that back up.
"We've got a lot of girls who have stayed in key positions.
"Particularly our spine. We know how we all play."
However of the club's 28 players who are into their third week of pre-season training, more than half are new to the fold.
While Higgins believes the retention of most of last season's leading players will give the Knights an advantage, she said the new recruits ensured there was still plenty of work to do to gel as a team over the next month.
"We have players like Hannah Southwell coming back from injury, we played without her last year and she is a very integral part of our side," Higgins, a local high school teacher, said.
"We've got something like 12 new players.
"Most of these new girls haven't played NRLW.
"It's exciting for them and they've fit in really well. They're a great group of girls. They bring a lot of different things to our team and stuff that I think we've needed."
With four new sides entering the NRLW this season, Higgins believes there will be an element of the unknown in the early rounds.
She feels, looking at other clubs' squads on paper, their could be a divide develop between the stronger and weaker sides, but is also expecting a few surprises.
"There's a lot of other teams that have recruited really well," she said.
"If you were to read their team list, you'd be like: 'OK, there's multiple Australian players, Origin players'.
"And then you've got other teams that don't really have that. But in saying that, I feel like there's a lot of new girls that come into NRLW and light it up. We saw that with Jesse Southwell last year.
"So I think every game will be tough.
"The Broncos and Roosters have recruited really well, and there's a lot of girls coming over from union that I don't know what they'll be like."
Newcastle host St George Illawarra in round one at McDonald Jones Stadium on Saturday, July 22.
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