Barrow Raiders’ new centre Greg Worthington has admitted that the team’s biggest test next could be dealing with heightened expectation.
Worthington, who signed a one-year deal in October, insists he and his new team-mates are excited by the challenge of pushing on from last season’s achievements.
But he says: “Last season, from the outside looking in, Barrow had a fantastic year and probably surprised a few teams. The hard bit now is backing that up.
“Everybody knows what the club is about and what it’s aiming to do, so we’ve got to move forward, raise the standards and establish ourselves as one of the top-end Championship teams.
“I’m looking forward to that challenge and doing it with this group.”
The Raiders finished the 2022 regular season in fourth place, earning a play-off spot in the process.
Paul Crarey was named Betfred Championship Coach of the Year, while the Raiders were crowned Betfred Championship Club of the Year,
Worthington, who joined from Halifax Panthers, and several other members of the first team squad recently completed their first week of pre-season training, which included a mixture of ball work and fitness training in the sand dunes.
With the new season rapidly approaching, the powerful centre insists that the work done now will benefit the squad in the long run.
“Throughout your career, every pre-season you do is always hard, but it’s enjoyable as well.
“I’ve got to show the lads that I’m willing to dig in. Hopefully it gets easier each week and we have a good time doing it.”
