The Knights have been forced to cancel their upcoming pre-season training camp in regional New South Wales after a "substantial" amount of Newcastle players tested positive to COVID-19.

The Hunter club's off-season has already been heavily impacted by the virus in recent weeks, with multiple players having contracted the virus in mid-December.

With NSW seeing record daily numbers in COVID-19 cases across the past week, the Knights' continued battle in pushing through the pandemic has reached further strains.

As revealed byย The Newcastle Herald,ย the Knights have cancelled their Tamworth training plans for the coming weeks.

Newcastle players and coaches were set to depart to north-east NSW on Monday, however club chief executive Phil Gardner revealed that a "substantial" amount of players have tested positive for the virus.

Those that have not been forced into isolation will be able to commence pre-season training later this week, which is scheduled to begin on Thursday.

A large majority of Newcastle's playing group will near an entire month's break in the coming weeks, with their final preparations in 2021 cut short due to their aforementioned cases that emerged last month.

Player Chris Vea'ila was among those to have tested positive for the virus prior to the club's Christmas break, with a local COVID outbreak being traced back to The Argyle Nightclub.

The Knights are set to face the Bulldogs and Storm in trial games late next month.