RAIDERS testimonial man Liam Harrison is being wrapped up in cotton wool in an effort to keep the blockbusting forward fit for the remainder of the season.

The faithful Barrow RL servant is suffering from an arthritic knee, which means he has to have a pain-killing injection and blood drained from it every week before playing. As a result, it has restricted his training routine and limited his running to match days only.

Raiders coach Paul Crarey – preparing his side for their next challenge in the Super 8s at Doncaster this Sunday – wants to see the forward continue to play until the end of his benefit season, when he will hang up his boots.

Harrison thanked the Craven Park coaching staff who, he said, have been very tolerant with him, especially over the past couple of months during training.

Reaffirming his decision to retire from the semi-pro game, Harrison continued: “I have been at training, I have done fitness, I have done weights, but I have not run on the pitch because of the impact and inflammation it causes on my knee.

“They have been very good in managing me and I just think that next year – and I am conscious of this, I look at young players like Matty Holmes and Matty While and all the young players that are coming through – and I think it would be unfair on them if I had to go through another year of doing exactly the same.

“I think I am reaching my limits now where I don’t think I will perform any better. I think that it’s time to stand down and listen to my body. I couldn’t go through another year of not training properly and then watching the lads put their heart and soul into training and then not get picked at the end of the week.”

Crarey, who brought Harrison to the club 10 years ago during his first spell in charge of Barrow, applauded the player’s determination to continue despite his knee problem.

“He has got to have injections every week and blood drained before he has the injections,” said Crarey.

“He does no running, everything is low-impact with him, we tried to get him in last week and do a bit of running but we had to pull him out again because I could just see he was struggling a little bit.

“And when he runs the impact makes it bleed so if it bleeds we have got to drain the fluid before he has a pain-killing injection.

“It has got progressively worse with the impact of games, but he just gives 100 per cent.

“All credit to him, he still wants to go out there and do his best for the lads and for the club.

“We said we would work with him, especially with it being his testimonial year. It would be a crying shame if he didn’t get to that and get the accolades he deserves.

“I want to see him through to the end of the year. I want him to see out his term because he has been absolutely brilliant for the club.

“He’s massive, his attitude is fantastic, it always was.

“He was a winner when we brought him to the club 10 years ago, probably a bit rough and probably as mad as a cut snake at times, a bit argumentative, but he’s moulded into a great person.

“He is fantastic with the young players, as are all our senior players. He’s got a massive heart, he’s tough but he’s soft inside.”

He added: “He appreciates and is pretty humble about getting to the end of the year and us allowing him to do what he does.”

Harrison’s younger brother Ben, the Warrington Wolves forward, has recovered from injury and has gone on loan to Super League rivals Wakefield Wildcats for the remainder of the season.