PAUL Crarey wants the Barrow Raiders fans to be the 'fourteenth man' as they welcome promotion favourites Toulouse to Craven Park for the first league game of the 2023 season on Saturday.

The 2022 Betfred Championship coach of the year said that his Raiders squad is shaping up nicely for the new season despite having a 'difficult' pre-season.

Crarey is hopeful that by the time the game comes around, his new-looked team will be firing on all cylinders.

He said: "We've got to be more fluent as a team but that will come.

"We've had some good training sessions in the last couple of weeks when the weather's backed off us a little bit – we’ve been able to get on the field and its started to come now, the fluency.

"Hopefully we'll get that fluency back by the time we play Toulouse, get a settled side, and have everyone fighting for a place in the team.

"The fixture was initially to go to Toulouse first off, but they reversed it, so for us, to play them in heavy conditions is a bit of a leveller for us – they're one of the favourites to go up.

"Hopefully it'll give us a marker of where we are, and if we can cause an upset that'll be great.

"Our fans are great, they get behind us every time, they've been that extra man when we've played at home.

"Hopefully we’ll get a big crowd like we did last year and they can cheer us on to victory.

"We've got fantastic young support – all the kids in the area get free season tickets, so we have five or 600 kids following us every week.

"We're growing the game through the community, and we're getting the rewards for that – we're a well-supported Championship team, and that helps us fund the team that we've got.

"We're a settled side, but with the big investment that’s being made by these big clubs in the championship, Bradford, Widnes and others.

"Obviously we came fourth, but these teams improving all adds more spice this season.

"We've got to work really hard to stay in this position, and even to make the playoffs this year."