"It's [was] a lot harder in terms of being able to work through plays and modules at training," Katene said.
"The things you have to do - it hit us really hard [but] it's one of the barriers you have to overcome when trying to play through a season."
Facing dire straits, and a 2015 season contrasting last year's winning high, a local citizen fronted up as the the Knights' knight in shining armour.
Graham Livingston, from Mr Rental Whangarei, was made aware of the Knights' situation from a chance meeting with RLN general manager, Alex Smits and graciously paid the lighting bill for the remainder of Otangarei's 2015 season.
When Smits asked him what he wanted in return, his response was "nothing".
"I'm just happy to get people out on the sports field, we all need heroes and the Knights are heroes in their community," Livingstone said.
Since returning to their local training grounds, the noble deed has been met with great appreciation from the humble Otangarei team.
"It's been a contrasting year for us," Katene said.
"We had a couple of spotlights running off the generator [at one point]. We did that for a couple of sessions. It served it's purpose.
"It means there's no excuses really. We've got the players, we've got the field, we've got the lights - now we need to train like champions."
With training back to normal, things are looking up for the Knights as they head into their round eleven encounter versus the Hikurangi Stags - a rematch of last year's grand final.
The Rugby League Northland Scott Electrical Premiership takes a break this weekend with play set to resume June 6.
