diff --git a/clusterman/kubernetes/kubernetes_cluster_connector.py b/clusterman/kubernetes/kubernetes_cluster_connector.py
index 4a4c3dfd1..5e94fc46c 100644
--- a/clusterman/kubernetes/kubernetes_cluster_connector.py
+++ b/clusterman/kubernetes/kubernetes_cluster_connector.py
@@ -99,6 +99,8 @@ def __init__(self, cluster: str, pool: Optional[str], init_crd: bool = False) ->
             node_label_selector = self.pool_config.read_string("node_label_key", default="clusterman.com/pool")
             self._label_selectors.append(f"{node_label_selector}={self.pool}")
 
+        self.reload_client()
+
     def reload_state(self, load_pods_info: bool = True) -> None:
         """Reload information from cluster/pool
 
@@ -107,8 +109,6 @@ def reload_state(self, load_pods_info: bool = True) -> None:
         """
         logger.info("Reloading nodes")
 
-        self.reload_client()
-
         # store the previous _nodes_by_ip for use in get_removed_nodes_before_last_reload()
         self._prev_nodes_by_ip = copy.deepcopy(self._nodes_by_ip)
         self._nodes_by_ip = self._get_nodes_by_ip()