LEWIS Charnock will continue his half-back partnership with Jamie Dallimore at Barrow Raiders next year after agreeing a new deal with the club.

Dallimore was one of the first of the Raiders’ out-of-contract players to be confirmed as having signed a new deal with the club for the 2019 Betfred Championship season and will again be playing alongside scrum-half Charnock next year.

The former St Helens player missed much of the 2018 campaign due to a shoulder injury picked up in the season-opener at London Broncos, but returned for the closing matches of the Super Eights.

And Barrow rugby director Andy Gaffney believes Charnock’s importance to the team should not be underestimated.

“I think we’ve missed Lewis in the middle and the halves massively this year,” said Gaffney.

“Ryan Johnston has come in and done a good job, but Lewis ties up that middle nicely and it just shows in the last few games how he’s come back from a horrific injury and started to hit a bit of form.

“He’s absolutely fantastic in defence, he organised the players on the field and you need that confidence in that position.

“Hopefully he’ll want to stay here for many years to come. To get quality like that in, we’re very lucky to have two of them in that position, so it was key we kept hold of him to keep that partnership with Dalli and for young lads coming through like Ryan Johnston to learn from.”

Along with his general play, Charnock proved a prolific goal-kicker during the successful 2017 League One promotion season.

Those duties were handled by Dallimore during Charnock’s absence this season just gone and Gaffney is pleased the Raiders have several options in that department.

“We’ve got quite a few goal-kickers in the squad in Lewis, Dalli and Ryan Johnston can kick goals as well, so we’re quite well-covered in that role at the moment,” added Gaffney.