Coach Ben Jeffries was pleased overall with the Newcastle Knights' 28-8 trial match win over Canberra in Wagga Wagga on Saturday and now turns his focus to locking down a side for NRLW round one.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
The Knights open their campaign for a third straight NRLW premiership against the Sydney Roosters at McDonald Jones Stadium on July 25.
Jeffries, who has replaced back-to-back premiership-winning mentor Ronald Griffiths, took a strong squad to Wagga Wagga for their one and only NRLW trial hit-out.
It included 13 players from last year's winning grand final as well as NSW Women's Premiership back Jess Gentle and development players Evah McEwen and Lilly-Ann White.
The game was played across four 20-minute quarters and Newcastle produced a dominant first-half performance to lead 16-0 at the main break after tries through Abigail Roache, Shanice Parker, Tamika Upton and Gentle.
But the Raiders struck back with two tries of their own in the third period before Georgia Roche, Tayla Predebon and McEwen all crossed the try line in the final quarter.
"We wanted to give minutes to players, first and foremost, just to start to get some combinations in real-game scenario, and then it was more around some effort areas we've got going internally, and defensive efforts more than anything," Jeffries said.
"I was really happy with the first half. Obviously, a few mistakes but that's always going to happen when you play your first game.
"Third quarter, disappointed with but we asked for a response in the fourth quarter, which we got. Overall, really successful trial game and most of them have pulled up pretty good, which is another tick."
Caitlan Johnston-Green, who was one of four Knights to play in the first-ever three-match women's State of Origin series, was ruled out of the trial due to a pectoral issue.
"CJ is going to be quite influential for us and we need her fit and firing and ready to go," Jeffries said.
"It's nothing major but she's come off a three-game Origin series, does she need to play in an NRLW trial?"
"Internally we haven't done too much for the first five weeks game plan-wise, so we'll ramp up a few things behind the scenes leading into rounds one, two and three.
"Trying to get some more combinations going now that we've got the Origin players back full-time, and then working out what our best NRLW round-one team looks like."
In round one of the NSW Women's Premiership, the Knights lost 34-12 to the Bulldogs at Belmore Sports Ground on Sunday.
