IT may not have come about in the manner he wanted, or be in his favoured position, but Karl Ashall is determined to make the most of his opportunity in the halves for Barrow Raiders.

Off-season recruit Dean Parata and vice-captain Nathan Mossop were preferred to Ashall for the hooker roles in Raiders' opening Betfred Championship game of the year at London Broncos, with head coach Paul Crarey keen to get all of his new signings up to speed.

The 28-year-old makes no secret of the fact he was unhappy to miss out, although he was granted a recall to the side for last week's 8-8 draw at home to Toronto Wolfpack, after Lewis Charnock was ruled out with a shoulder injury.

That saw him reform a half-back partnership with Jamie Dallimore from their time as team-mates at North Wales Crusaders, and while he did not want to benefit from one of his fellow Barrow players' ill-fortune with injury, Ashall is keen to lay down a marker now he has that role.

“Every position, there is competition for places and that's what you need,” said Ashall, who is set to continue in the halves when Leigh Centurions visit Craven Park tomorrow (3pm kick-off). “You need good depth in your squad to compete every week, because you are going to pick up injuries.

“I was a little bit disappointed to miss out on the London game, but it is what it is.

"I voiced my opinion about that and then lo and behold, unfortunately Dougie (Charnock) picked up an injury against London and I got my shot.

“I don't want to play on those terms and I don't want any of the boys to get injured at all, but I got my shot and hopefully I can play well and keep my shirt.

“I was delighted to just be back on the field playing with the lads, and wherever I can help out and whatever position I can play then I'll certainly do that.”

It could hardly have been a more bruising return to action for Ashall though, both he and Dallimore being targeted by the Toronto defence when kicking in-play.

But the former Swinton Lions and Halifax man knows, as one of the members of the Barrow squad with previous experience of Championship rugby, that the physicality goes up several notches in this division, along with there being no margin for error.

“You learn one thing very quickly, there are a no easy games in the Championship – especially when you've just been promoted,” said Ashall. “Look at Toronto against us at the weekend, they could have looked at that as a bit of a flogging, and they certainly didn't get that.

“You've just got to adapt to the physicality of it and, even more so with the Championship now, there are a few full-time teams knocking about and you've got to learn fast that you can't make errors at this level.

“You can soon be out of the team if you do that and every week is a tough game. You've got to be switched on because you don't get easier teams. You've got to prepare well and be squeaky clean with everything; attitude, offense and defence as well.”

The mindset adopted by Raiders certainly came to the fore against Toronto as they battled through the snow and mud to earn a more-than-deserved share of the spoils against the full-time Canadian outfit.

Ashall knows it will have to be the same when Leigh come to Craven Park, particularly with Neil Jukes' side having recruited players with both Super League and NRL experience over the off-season, but both he and his team-mates will be going in confident after that draw with the Wolfpack.

“That result probably could have sent shockwaves right through the league, to be honest,” said Ashall.

“I know the pitch was a huge leveller, we understand that, but at the end of the day it was a full-time team against a part-time team on the same pitch in the same conditions, and we absolutely matched them in every department.

“We spoke all week about being better and giving ourselves a chance with our performance, and completion rates and things like that, and we certainly did that.

“Against any team, you're not going to give yourself a chance if you don't do that, especially against teams like Toronto or London, or Leigh this weekend.

“We know if we complete, our defensive attitude is really good and we can compete with any team. We were all absolutely delighted with the result, it's as good as a win for us and it really gives us a massive boost of confidence going into this weekend and the rest of the season.”