WHAT a finish at Rochdale! If you wanted drama that was the script you would have written.

We would have played exactly the same as a team whether Ryan Shaw had kicked that last minute conversion or whether he had missed.

The emotions and reflections on a season are wildly different due to the success of that one kick. How many people would be questioning the coaches and players if that kick was wide of the mark? I guess that’s the business we are in, and we must learn to deal with reactions but sometimes you need to put things into context. I thought the outcome was due reward for all the hard work that the players, coaches, and backroom staff have put in. In life, the harder you work the luckier you get.

We obviously need to get over our final hurdle of West Wales and it would be great if we attracted a bumper crowd on Saturday as a fitting way to end our season. The match is being streamed live and for free on Ourleague which is great for the supporters who can’t make the game.

The RFL are sending a presentation team, including guest Ralph Rimmer, to the ground and we would like to send a message that we are a club on the up. Certainly, all the work we have done in attracting larger crowds and growing our income streams has resonated with other clubs within the rugby league world.

ATTENDANCE: Crowds at Barrow Raiders

What the victory at Rochdale has done is allow us to, once again, start planning for next season and life in the Championship.

We had put our recruitment plans on hold after the defeats at North Wales and Doncaster, but this at least puts us a few weeks ahead of needing to win via the play-offs.

We have managed to generate income off the pitch, but our outgoings have also significantly increased too, and it will be tough to suddenly transform ourselves to a top end Championship club.

We still need to nurture our local players and then bring in four or five top quality additions and see where that takes us. Our playing budget for next year is perhaps not as high as we had hoped so we need to be careful with our recruitment and spend wisely. What we will not be doing is putting the club in a perilous position financially.

Whilst we plan for next year it still remains frustrating that we don’t know what 2023 looks like in terms of league structure.

I am not one to bash the RFL but if I had one criticism it is the constant changing of structures that I don’t believe does the game any favours.

If we have 36 teams then what’s wrong with 12/12/12? Add a Magic or Bash and with 23 fixtures there is room in the calendar for a Nines, a later start and international weekends.

Funding has been severely cut for the whole game and there seems to be a lot of in-fighting for a share of the smaller pie. We are lucky at Barrow Raiders that I believe we could survive with or without funding but the game needs that money.

Our personal ambition to improve facilities and community output, including growth of the community game, would be greatly helped by those funds.