Newcastle are poised to dominate the NRLW for years to come with their star players signed for multiple seasons and the bulk of the squad retained for 2024.
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After their 24-18 victory over Gold Coast in Sunday's grand final, the Knights will head into next season chasing a third consecutive title.
Their inaugural premiership in 2022 came on the back of recruiting a host of big-name players, while their latest triumph came after the club retained the core group and brought in some lesser-known talents.
The Knights, like all clubs after last season, faced the challenging task of trying to sign a squad amid the drawn-out collective bargaining agreement negotiations between the NRL and Rugby League Players Association.
Prior to this year, players could only be signed on one-season deals, which meant every player was off-contract at a time when the league was expanding from six to 10 teams.
"It was a difficult job," Knights football director Peter Parr said.
"You won't see it again; four new teams coming into the competition and every player in the competition coming off-contract.
"We were planning from after the grand final last year. But everything got put on hold because of the protracted negotiations between the RLPA and NRL. It just kept getting put on the back-burner more and more."
It's a pretty special playing group.
- RONALD GRIFFITHS
As reigning premiers, the Knights had the advantage of being an attractive club, and most of their home-grown players wanted to stay on.
But from their 2022 premiership-winning side, they lost the likes of co-captain Millie Boyle, Kirra Dibb, Romy Teitzel and Emma Manzelmann. All up, 10 players from last year's top squad moved on and 12 fresh faces came in this season.
"We didn't know how many marquee players you could have, no certainty on third-parties or employment, we didn't even have a salary cap," Parr said.
"There was a whole range of different things that created a lot of uncertainties.
"[Coach] Ronald [Griffiths] and [recruitment officer] Adam Doyle did a terrific job putting the squad together.
"Then Ronald did a terrific job, with his staff, getting them to the level he did, given the turnover.
"I don't think you could argue about their decision to retain who they did, and also the talent they brought in."
Of the club's 2023 additions, multiple players proved crucial signings.
Griffiths' gamble on former Young Matildas captain Sheridan Gallagher paid dividends. The 21-year-old nailed down the right-wing position, playing all 11 games and scoring seven tries.
Jasmin Strange was similarly strong on the other flank, featuring in every match and scoring four tries.
Inside Strange, centre Abigail Roache bagged six tries in 11 appearances in her maiden NRLW campaign.
Further infield, ex-Parramatta prop Rima Butler made up for the loss of Boyle, Nita Maynard provided experience at dummy-half, Lashion Albert-Jones, a niece of Warriors NRL great Stacey Jones, showed her skills and Georgia Roche slotted in seamlessly at five-eighth.
Roche, a highly-rated English talent, is signed until the end of 2027, as is halfback Jesse Southwell, four-time premiership winning fullback Tamika Upton and skipper Hannah Southwell.
Australian forwards Caitlan Johnston and Yasmin Clydsdale are contracted until the end of 2025.
"It's a pretty special playing group," Griffiths said.
"With some work through the next six months, there's no reason - it's going to be hard - but there's no reason why they can't be there again.
"The big thing from our perspective is going away, assessing where we're at and understanding where we need to improve, because the competition will grow and develop again next year.
"We've got a great program, but I still think it can be better. There's no reason that the growth for our squad can't be exponential over the next six months and be ready to go round one next year."
