The Knights have been rocked by news that star English recruit Kai Pearce-Paul may require foot surgery and could miss the early rounds of next season.
The Lions' Test forward arrived in Newcastle last week amid much hype, with predictions he would take the NRL by storm.
But Knights officials were shocked when they put the 22-year-old star through routine medical checks.
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"His foot has serious problems and we are still doing tests but at this early stage it doesn't look good," a Knights source told WWOS.
"If he needs surgery he probably won't be fit for the early stages of the season.
"He pulled out of the Test series against Tonga hoping to get the foot right but we are getting reports that he played a lot of last season with pain-killing needles at Wigan, which we are not very happy about.
"Hopefully he can get over it and avoid the knife.
"We will just have to wait and see."
Pearce-Paul helped Wigan to victory in this year's Super League grand final over Catalans and is rated among the best young forwards to come to the NRL from England in many years.
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