ALEC Susino is happy to play whatever role is asked of him by Barrow Raiders head coach Paul Crarey as he prepares for his first season of playing rugby league in this country.

The former Cronulla Sharks under-20s forward has added some more power to an already strong Raiders pack, along with fellow new signings Glenn Riley and Jono Smith, and is likely to feature in the 2018 Betfred Championship opener away to London Broncos on Sunday.

But although Susino has played most of his career at prop, his carrying and offloading ability lend themselves to him being able to slot into the back row if required, and he is willing to demonstrate that versatility if required.

“I’ll play wherever Cresta puts me, whether it’s prop, loose forward, back row or off the bench, it doesn’t matter,” said Susino. “I’ll just slot into that role because it’s a team sport, not an individual one and if everyone does what they’re meant to do then I think we can shock a few teams this year.

“We’ve got an awesome pack up front and that’s the foundation of the game, in the middle of the park, because that’s where most of it is played.

“The club have done a good job with the forward signings they have made.

“Compared to Australia, it’s physical and not as fast, but the conditions dictate that and there’s not much you can do about it. I’ve been trying to put on a bit of weight just to combat that and we’ll see how we go in round one against London Broncos.”

Meanwhile, Crarey is pleased with how Barrow’s pre-season preparations have gone, despite disruption caused by illness sweeping through the squad and last Sunday’s friendly against Whitehaven being cancelled.

The Raiders players who had not suffered from the viral infection were given a vaccination by the club doctor on Thursday in an effort to prevent anyone else falling ill ahead of the trip to London.

“We’ve prepared well, we’re very fit and I spoke to (Whitehaven captain) Marc Shackley and he can’t believe how trim Glenn Riley is,” said Crarey. “He said ‘I can’t believe it when I saw him’, so people have started to notice we’re really fit.

“We’ve had a flu virus which has ripped through us and I think if it had been this week then we’d have been in a bit of trouble. It gives us a week to get everybody back on board. It’s affected everybody and a lot of the other coaches have a lot of the same.”