Newcastle Knights NRLW coach Ronald Griffiths hopes to retain the bulk of last year's premiership-winning side but is resigned to losing players as four expansion teams join the league in 2023.
As reigning premiers, Newcastle were always going to have to fend off interest from other clubs given every NRLW player came off contract after last season, but the new teams add an extra element of intrigue into who they will be able to retain.
Wests Tigers, Canberra Raiders, Cronulla Sharks and North Queensland Cowboys are all launching inaugural women's sides for the league's sixth season, creating a 10-team competition.
No club has been able to formally sign players due to the protracted negotiations between the Rugby League Players' Association and the NRL to establish a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA). In the women's case, it would be their first CBA.
Griffiths has been talking to players as he goes about planning a squad for the mid-year competition, but he said no one from last year's side had given him a firm indication they wouldn't be back.
But he admitted the club faced a "challenge" to hang onto everyone in light of the league's expansion.
"No doubt we will lose players, because with the growth of the game you're going to have 10 teams and there will be a dilution of talent where they chase players to go to other clubs," he said.
"There's new franchises that are being set up, so they're going to go pretty hard after some players and why wouldn't you chase some of ours? We've got some of the most talented players in the game."
Griffiths is resigned to losing a few players and is looking ahead to the emerging talent coming through the grades, but he remains confident the Knights will be able to keep much of last year's NRLW squad together.
"I'd like to think so, but above all else Newcastle has got a great grounding of junior-female rugby league," he said. "We've got an under-17s and under-15s girls academy we've just established. They'll play in a couple of games throughout the year and that will lead into the Lisa Fiaola [Cup].
"We'll retain the bulk of the squad, but we also know long-term - we've had to relocate some players and we know long term that's financially not viable. So we need to make sure we develop the next crop of juniors."
The coach's comments regarding relocation costs offer some indication of who might be unlikely to return to the club in 2023.
During their first two seasons, the Knights put multiple players from New Zealand, Queensland and other parts of NSW up in temporary motel-style accommodation for the three-month campaigns.
Knights CEO Philip Gardner also said late last season he expected the Cowboys to chase the club's Queensland players, including Romy Teitzel, Tamika Upton and Emma Manzelmann.
Winger Kiana Takairangi, a Cronulla product, is another who could take up an opportunity elsewhere given the Sharks will have a team.
The NRLW draw has been completed but is yet to be released due to the CBA talks.
To see more stories and read today's paper download the Newcastle Herald news app here.
