BY his own admission, Jamie Dallimore is something of a joker in the Barrow Raiders squad.

When it comes to training and playing, there can be no doubt the half-back is serious about his craft, but it is off the field where he tends to take a more relaxed approach to things.

Dallimore has had to rein those instincts in during recent weeks, when a five-game suspension left him on the sidelines for the cup matches against Oxford, York City Knights and Leeds Rhinos, plus the Kingstone Press League One games against South Wales Ironmen and Keighley Cougars.

Rather than be left twiddling his thumbs, Dallimore stayed around his Raiders team-mates for games at the request of head coach Paul Crarey. However, he soon realised he could not be his usual jovial self.

“Paul said try to be around the team on matchdays, but I’m a bit of a joker so I’ve got to be more serious when lads are trying to prepare for a game, which is probably something I struggle with,” said Dallimore.

“Being a bit of a clown around people, you’ve got to be sensible while lads are trying to prepare; some like to do their own thing, so you’ve not got to bug people.

“I perhaps struggle to adapt to that myself because it’s probably more frustrating not playing and watching the lads prepare, and I’m sort of in the way. So I tried to stay as much out the way as be involved on matchdays.

“It’s just been frustration, especially with not being injured but not being able to play. I’ve not really had that situation for a number of years now, so it’s frustrating just to be training, not playing and being around the lads on matchday.”

That frustration was compounded by Dallimore being unable to make his return to action against Toronto Wolfpack last weekend, after visa issues saw him turned away from Barrow’s flight out to Canada at check-in.

Instead, he is set to make a belated comeback in tomorrow’s League One Cup final at Bloomfield Road in Blackpool, where he will come up against some familiar opponents in the form of old club North Wales Crusaders (noon kick-off).

The 28-year-old has been here before with Crusaders, helping them triumph in the inaugural edition of this competition two years ago and earning the man-of-the-match honour as the Welsh side defeated Swinton Lions 14-8, although he would rather have faced their vanquished semi-final opponents University of Gloucestershire All Golds.

“I’ve got a lot of friends there, the fans were brilliant with me and I know their coach pretty well, so it will be tough,” said Dallimore. “When the (semi-final) draw was made and we got Oxford and they got Gloucester, I was kind of hoping Gloucester would knock them out. Obviously, we got past Oxford and it wasn’t to be, but if I’m selected I’ll definitely be pulling that shirt on to get the win and get one over on my old team.”

Come kick-off, Dallimore’s only focus will be on helping to ensure it is Barrow who come away with the silverware – particularly on the back of a chastening 70-2 defeat away to fellow League One high-fliers Toronto last Saturday.

He is one of a number of fresh players Crarey will be able to call upon for the final and the half-back is hoping their return can help get the team back to winning ways.

“It’s a chance to get everybody’s hopes back up now and I’m coming back in on the back of two tough defeats to take,” said Dallimore.

“There has been a backlog of fixtures for the lads as well, they’re tired and they’ve got jet-lag, but we’re probably a bit lucky because we’ve got myself, Martin Aspinwall, Dan Toal, Danny Morrow and Andy Litherland who aren’t, so if we come in for lads then it’s a few fresh bodies to look at.

“There are obviously some battered bodies knocking about in our club at the moment, so it would be nice to get the spirits back up.

“It will be a tough week for them coming back from Toronto, but hopefully we can finish the back end of the week on a high and get this win.

“It doesn’t matter how we win the cup final, if we win by one or by 50 we’ll take it. We’ve just got to do what we’ve got to do to get the win.”