PAUL Crarey is looking for Barrow Raiders’ defence to come to the fore again when they head to Batley Bulldogs for the first game of the new Betfred Championship season on Sunday.

The head coach has been pleased with the steady improvements the Raiders have shown in defence – particularly on their own goal-line – during their three pre-season games, from being caught napping several times in the 24-10 defeat against Oldham to the solid showing in last Saturday’s 18-18 draw against Super League side Wigan Warriors.

Crarey knows those standards will need to be maintained if they are to have any success at Batley, with Bulldogs possessing a strong physical presence all over the park and an intimate knowledge of how to play the infamous slope on the Mount Pleasant pitch.

“They (Wigan) had a mountain of possession in the second half and the most pleasing thing for us is (the improvement in) our goal-line D from the Oldham game,” said Crarey.

“It proves defence is about attitude, and the last two games we’ve had a good attitude and only been broken by a crash-ball and kicks.

“The ricochets can go your way, though, if you work hard and put pressure on the kicker, so that’s what we aim to do leading up to the Batley game.”

The trip to West Yorkshire is arguably one of the more difficult tests the Raiders could have been handed on the first weekend of the new season, with the first month of the campaign also including a trip to last year’s League One champions York City Knights, and home games against Sheffield Eagles and Dewsbury Rams.

Crarey’s options for this weekend’s game are set to be boosted with second row Jarrad Stack on the verge of a return to action after a long spell out with a knee injury.

Should Stack feature it would add further strength to the pack, which was well-marshalled by props Glenn Riley and Tom Walker during the draw with Wigan, and the Barrow boss is looking for his forwards to take the lead again at Batley.

“Batley is just what we need,” said Crarey. “We’ll have to have a strong middle and play directly because they’ll be physical and they play the slope well.

“I said before the Wigan game, it’s a great game for us to be involved in because it might be wet on the Batley slope, but I thought we were very good. There are certain areas we need to pick up on, but we know that.

“We’re still a bit mix and match, we’ve got players coming back in, but the first four games won’t define our season. But it will give us a measuring stick of what we need to work on with this new group of players.”