Newcastle NRLW forward Romy Teitzel believes the Knights can claim "back to back" premierships next season, but she might not be part of their attempt to do so.
Teitzel, 23, led the Knights in their luckless inaugural campaign earlier this year before Millie Boyle and Hannah Southwell joined the club and took on co-captaincy duties this season.
Shifting from fullback to the back-row after the Knights recruited former Brisbane custodian Tamika Upton, Teitzel still played an important leadership role for Newcastle second time round. The club's campaign culminated in a maiden NRLW premiership after the Knights defeated Parramatta 32-12 in the grand final.
Reflecting on the side's incredible worst-to-first progression, Teitzel said recruitment undoubtedly helped propel the Knights from wooden-spooners to premiers but she felt across the board it was a much more finely-tuned campaign.
From almost day one of pre-season training, the Townsville product was confident the new-look Knights could go all the way.
"Absolutely," Teitzel told the Newcastle Herald. .
"I think the recruitment was absolutely amazing, not only with experience but leadership.
"Moving into the Centre of Excellence, I think the club really learnt from last season and [coach] Ronald Griffiths brought so much belief in us.
"We believed in ourselves and that's absolutely what won it for us."
Teitzel, who played every minute of all seven games this season, scoring three tries, said the culture Newcastle created had given her belief that the club could win the title again next year.
"Back to back," she said.
"I think that we have a great culture and no one can take that away.
"That's such a big thing here in Newcastle.
"You have to build a culture off the field to perform really well and moving forward I think that's something that's just going to get stronger and stronger."
With all NRLW players only on season-long contracts, the Knights face a challenge to retain their squad given four new teams are entering the competition next year.
One of those sides is North Queensland, who will surely be interested in bringing local products like Teitzel and Newcastle's bench utility Emma Manzelmann home.
Knights CEO Philip Gardner is expecting as much but said last month the club was hopeful the majority of the squad would be keen to stay.
"Hopefully if they can win a grand final together, that will help our cause," he said.
Manzelmann, of Mackay, said on the eve of the grand final that she expects the Cowboys to come calling.
Both her and Teitzel played for the Cowboys-aligned North Queensland Gold Stars that won Queensland Rugby League's women's competition before the most recent NRLW season.
Teitzel, who captained the Gold Stars, has been non-committal about her future but said she had never been part of a more well-supported team than Newcastle.
Part of Brisbane's squad that won the NRLW premiership in 2020, Teitzel was blown away by the support the Knights received this season and upon return from their grand final victory.
"I was part of the Brisbane team there when they won the final and it was obviously a COVID year, but we didn't experience anything like this," she said. "Newcastle tops a lot of teams in regards to supporters and how much it means to the town.
"To win a grand final for them is pretty amazing, and to come home to the reception that we did [that night] and the police escort coming into the town was so cool. It's once in a lifetime for me."
Along with the Cowboys, the Raiders, Tigers and Sharks will enter the NRLW in 2023, creating a 10-team competition.
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