ANDY Litherland revealed former Barrow Raiders team-mate Ollie Wilkes played a big role in him choosing to join Workington Town for the 2019 Betfred League One season.

The centre has endured a difficult 18 months since suffering a back injury in the Raiders' Challenge Cup tie at Leeds Rhinos last year and was limited to seven appearances for Barrow in the 2018 Championship.

But Litherland is now raring to get going after some time away from rugby league, and is enthused by what he has heard from Wilkes and Town head coach Leon Pryce.

"Ollie was a big reason behind me coming up," said Litherland. "He told me about the club, the staff and everything, and it all sounded good.

"I’ve heard nothing but good things about Leon and the rest of the coaching staff, not just off Ollie but anyone I've spoken to, so I'm looking forward to getting going again.

"I’ve had a bit of time away from the game this year so I'm eager to get back into training, put in some good performances and hopefully challenge for promotion.

"I’ve also spoken to Leon about the club's ambitions and it really sounds as if it’s going in the right direction."

Litherland is the second ex-Raider to join Town for 2019, with Ryan Fieldhouse making the move up to West Cumbria last month as well.

Workington missed out on promotion from League One in the play-offs in 2018 and former Walney Central amateur Litherland has high hopes for next year.

"We’ve brought in some good lads to add to an already great squad which narrowly missed out last year, so there is no reason why we can't go the distance this year," said Litherland.

"That's the target Leon and the club have set us all so it's about us as a group now to go out and back it up."