Knights NRLW coach Ben Jeffries has no doubt there's some potential first-grade players among Newcastle's under-19s side that will contest today's Tarsha Gale Cup grand final in Sydney.
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After consecutive play-off wins, the Knights face Illawarra at CommBank Stadium at 1.30pm.
The Steelers went unbeaten through the regular season, and beat Cronulla (26-4) in the semis last week after a week off.
Newcastle have done it the hard way.
They ran fifth after five wins, two losses and a draw, before downing Manly (18-16) and then Canterbury (28-0) to make the decider.
Jeffries, who has overseen the junior program for the first time after being appointed NRLW coach in January, said the girls had already done themselves proud.
"How they've transpired from round one to now, they've developed as a group ... there's a lot of sacrifice, from players and staff, and they're a credit to themselves and the club," he said.
"There is, a few players, that I believe who could make NRLW.
"But it's about them developing as humans too, not just football players."
Four girls are already earmarked to progress to the NRLW squad.
Five-eighth Evie Jones will actually go into the top-24 NRLW roster this year, while fullback and skipper Lilly-Ann White and back-rower Evah McEwen are set to be development players.
Fane Finau takes a development spot in 2025.
Newcastle have never won the Tarsha Gale Cup, but reached grand finals in '22, '19 and '18. They lost to Illawarra in '19.
"Hopefully fourth-time lucky," Jeffries said.
Intriguingly, the Knights and Steelers have not met this campaign.
The Tarsha Gale Cup is a 13-team competition, but only a nine-round regular season.
The 19s girls are Newcastle's sole team involved in this year's NSWRL junior representative grand finals, after the 17s girls and 19s boys were knocked out a win shy of their deciders.
The 17s boys narrowly missed qualifying for the finals.
