As his Newcastle Knights teammates pushed themselves to their limits tackling the assault course at Singleton Army Base, the rookie prop refused to let collateral war wounds stand in his way.

Having scaled commando-style ropes, brick walls and overhead ladders, Tovo glanced down and realised he had torn the skin from the palms of his hands.

The claret was flowing, but rather than conceding defeat, Tovo simply received running repairs from Knights strapper Jamie Williams and resumed the battle.

Such commitment has been standard procedure during Newcastle's annual pre-season bonding and goal-setting boot camp.

Take Cory Paterson, who looked down from the top of a five-metre wall and announced, "I'm very scared of heights but you've just got to charge it."

Or Wes Naiqama, who at one point screamed, "Get me out of here" at the top of his voice but then launched himself at the next obstacle with no thoughts of self-preservation.

Since Tuesday morning the Knights have encountered a seemingly endless array of physical and psychological challenges, often in searing heat.

They have dragged tractor tyres the length of a football field, walked blindfolded for hundreds of metres, carried an 80-kilogram stretcher five kilometres in the dead of night, and dived into a pool to lift heavy weights to the surface.

Then there was the orienteering course, in which youngster Peter Mata'utia covered 9.2km at an average heart rate of 150 beats per minute, according to his GPS system.

All on the meagre culinary fuel provided in a standard combat-issue ration pack.

In among all the military-style operations, Knights coach Rick Stone has still found time for a few football-specific training sessions.

Stone said this year's camp had been relatively tame compared to Newcastle's previous visit, 12 months previously.

Stone wanted his players "taken out of their comfort zone" but said the emphasis had been on team-building and, in particular, identifying leaders.