Barrow Raiders welcome back a familiar face this weekend – for a good cause.
Former prop Carl Forster is now coaching North Wales Crusaders who play at Barrow for the Nathan Mossop testimonial.
Forster, a popular forward in his time with the Raiders, had previously coached at Whitehaven.
The game will provide the first opportunity for Raiders supporters to catch a glimpse of some of the club’s new signings for the upcoming campaign.
Further friendlies will follow later this month against local rivals Workington Town and Wigan Warriors, with tickets available to purchase for all three matches.
Barrow coach Paul Crarey said: “The players have bought into what we’ve done. The senior players that came in have been absolutely brilliant, helping the younger lads.
“We’ve got a good balance of youth, experience and lads who have played at a higher level.
“We’ll get some fitness out of the three games coming up and see where we are as a squad.
“We lost some good senior players, so we’ve got to get that balance back and get some confidence back in the side early on.”
The club will look to build upon an impressive return to the Betfred Championship last year, having sealed a fourth-placed finish and subsequent play-off spot before being crowned Championship Club of the Year at the end-of-season award ceremony.
In addition Crarey was named Championship Coach of the Year.
The Raiders head coach understands the rigours that the second tier brings, and insists the squad will need to be ready to hit the ground running in next month’s Round 1 clash with Toulouse Olympique, which will be streamed live on the RFL’s Our League platform.
“It’s going to be a big challenge in the Championship,” he admitted.
“You look at the signings that have been made in this division, your Featherstone’s and Bradford’s. That puts their coaches and team under tremendous pressure to deliver.
“We’re a balanced side that have been together for a few years now, and we’re really looking forward to the challenge as a group.”
Ahead of Sunday’s return to action, Crarey has confirmed that new signing Greg Burke has suffered a slight neck injury in training.
He is expected to miss the fixture, joining longer-term absentee Dan Toal on the side-lines as the 33-year-old continues to recover from knee surgery.
