BARROW Raiders have announced the date for their second pre-season friendly fixture.

Raiders will face the North Wales Crusaders on January 23 in the lead up to the 2022 Championship season.

Paul Crarey’s squad will also be facing Championship rivals Newcastle Thunder on January 16 at the Matt Johnson Prestige Stadium.

Their first match of the season will see them face Sheffield Eagles at home - the first time in nine years the squad has had a home fixture opener for the season.

With great confidence and preparations being made, Barrow Raiders are approaching the season with high hopes.

Paul Crarey said: “In terms of North Wales Crusaders we know it’ll be a tough game but we’ve both got some new players joining us so it will be an interesting one.

“Harry Swarbrick, who played for us last year, has recently signed with North Wales.

“Karl Ashall, who recently retired from Wales, was a great player and a very smart player as well.

“Brad Brennan also used to play with us and he’s signed with Wales. He was named a top try scorer for the league.

“We face them the week before we begin the season so the side we put forward then will depend on the side we put against Wales.

“We have a squad of twenty-five at the moment and we will rotate them during the friendlies. There are three friendlies for us coming up and North Wales will be our last one.

“We’ll run out and see what happens.

“We played Crusaders twice last year, beating them by 40 and losing against them the other time. They were one of only three games we lost.

“We’ve been making some good preparation for our squad, especially with Covid hanging over us. We’re being careful with things and we’ve had some of the lads miss training when they’ve developed symptoms.

“Last year we had sixteen players stood down.

“The weather will also be a big factor for us. We’re lucky we had a place with shelter to train at.”

The Raiders will take a break from training to participate in a sponsored walk for Walney Cents Under 12s player Harley Anderson, who was recently diagnosed with CML (chronic myeloid leukaemia).

Paul said: “The lads will be walking from Ulverston Rugby club right to Walney, altogether it is about 14 miles.

“Some of the lads will go from Ulverston to Dalton while others will carry on the run route.

“We’ll stop at every amateur club as we go to do a collection for Harley.

“He came to visit us and we wanted to do everything we could to give some support for him and his family. We hope others can help us out with it as well.

For donations towards Harley's walk go to justgiving.com/crowdfunding/joseph-conaghan.