Knights NRLW coach Ronald Griffiths has backed the club's four players involved in the Women's World Cup final to shine on the big stage at Old Trafford in England.
Caitlan Johsnton and Yasmin Clydsdale are both expected to be selected in Australia's side for Sunday's game (AEDT), while Shanice Parker and Autumn-Rain Stephens-Daly are also likely to play for New Zealand.
All four players have featured prominently in the tournament so far, although Parker is racing the clock to recover from a knee injury which kept her out of the Kiwi Ferns' past two games.
Australia beat New Zealand 10-8 in a thrilling end to the final round of pool matches last week to qualify for the semi-finals ahead of their Tasman rivals.
The Jillaroos then claimed a huge 82-0 victory over Papua New Guinea this week to reach the final, while New Zealand defeated host nation England 20-6 to set up the highly anticipated re-match with Australia.
The women's match is being played a day before the men's final at Old Trafford, Premier League football club Manchester United's home ground that has a crowd capacity of more than 74,000.
Griffiths said it would be the "biggest international match" Newcastle's premiership-winning NRLW players had been a part of and he had no doubt they would all rise to the occasion.
"If you look at our season, the effort and enthusiasm that Yasmin displayed, particularly in the grand final - the amount of work she did off the ball, she will take that into this weekend," he said.
"And Caitlan will just lead from the front. She is just an extremely fierce competitor.
"Both girls have played Origin and grand finals, so they're used to the big stage."
Griffiths equally backed the Kiwi Ferns' duo of Raymond Terrace-based Parker and Rotorua product Stephens-Daly. He had spoken to Parker, who is working to overcome a medial ligament strain, in recent days.
"My understanding is she will do a fitness test Wednesday over there to see whether she is right to go," he said.
"She said she had been doing some change of direction and was going to do some contact to see if she could get ticked off to play or not. The decision will probably be up to her, but she'll definitely be in the side [if she is fit]. She acquitted herself quite well early in the tournament and is a world-class player."
The coach said Stephens-Daly, who was injured early in the NRLW campaign, had bounced back well playing an unfamiliar position.
"She has played a little bit of five-eighth in the past but ... coming back from a knee injury and being thrust into that was probably a little bit of a stretch," he said. "She has grown into the tournament."
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