THE Newcastle Knights expect to re-sign coach Ron Griffiths and the majority of his squad soon after Sunday's NRLW grand final against Parramatta at Accor Stadium.
Griffiths and Newcastle's players are all on one-season contracts, as stipulated by the NRL.
But after their triumphant march to the premiership decider in only their second season, Knights CEO Philip Gardner hopes most of the group can be retained.
Griffiths, who coached Newcastle Rugby League clubs Maitland and Kurri before a three-season stint as assistant to Michael Maguire at Wests Tigers, shapes as the top priority after overseeing the Knights' remarkable rise.
Newcastle finished their inaugural season as winless wooden spooners, but less than six months later are 80 minutes from premiership glory, after winning four of their five preliminary rounds and then last week's semi-final against St George Illawarra.
"We're very confident Ron will be coaching the women again next year," Gardner said.
"We'd like him to coach our NRLW girls and also the Harvey Norman [women's state league] side. We see him as a long-term coach at this club, and at some point he'll probably transition over to be an assistant coach of our men's team."
Griffiths said he wasn't looking any further ahead than Sunday's decider.
"I came here as a pathways coach and then this opportunity came up," he said.
"So I haven't spoken to the club beyond that, but I'm sure we'll sit down and have a conversation at some point.
"But I'm enjoying my time and I'd love to continue down this path, for sure. I've been really enjoying it."
Gardner admitted the expansion of the NRLW next year would mean there is fiercer competition to recruit and retain players.
"There's a lot of work to do," he said.
"The NRL stopped us contracting anyone for 2023, because they were concerned that all the good players would get signed up by the six existing clubs.
"It's going to 10 teams next year, and so we're waiting for the CBA negotiations to finish. The NRLW salary cap is going to double next year, and over the next five years it will keep going up. So the women will start earning a reasonable amount.
"But once that's sorted out, we're hoping we can start contracting players for two or three years after this."
Gardner predicted the incoming Cowboys, in particular, would have their eyes on several Knights players who hail from North Queensland.
"Townsville will have a team, and some of our girls might decide to go home, so it'll be an interesting challenge to retain this group," he said. "But we'll be doing our best. And hopefully if they can win a grand final together, that will help our cause."
Gardner was confident the strong home-grown contingent in Newcastle's squad would be keen to stay in the red and blue.
He was also hopeful star imports Millie Boyle and Tamika Upton, who joined the Knights from Brisbane, would become long-term Novocastrians.
"Millie's a local now," Gardner said. "She's bought a house in Merewether."
Griffiths said regardless of what other clubs come into the competition, he believes "we're building something special here", and players will want to be involved in such an environment.
