THE age-old question of whether or not Barrow Raiders should utilise dual-registration has come into focus again as the squad continues to be ravaged by injuries.

For head coach Paul Crarey, however, the matter is well and truly settled.

Unlike many of their part-time Betfred Championship rivals, the Raiders have steadfastly avoided entering into a dual-registration agreement with a Super League club, preferring to build a squad with talented players from Cumbria and signings from elsewhere.

Barrow had hoped to be able to tap into the loan market again this year as part of the deal which took Joe Bullock to Wigan Warriors, but Crarey revealed they were unable to take the players they initially enquired about due to not being dual-registered with the Super League champions.

Even so, Crarey has not wavered in his belief dual-registration is not the way forward for the Raiders as they wrestle with having 11 players out injured and trying to add to their solitary win so far.

“We’ve gone by it for four years now and when we get a bit of adversity, everyone looks for answers about what’s going on and it becomes very difficult when you get outside influences,” said Crarey.

“We had an agreement when Joe Bullock went to Wigan we would have a chance of some players. We asked for some players we wanted, but we were told no because we weren’t dual-registered.

“We were offered some loan players we had to pay quite a lot of money for who probably wouldn’t get in the team.

“We can go dual-reg, but who are we going to go dual-reg with? There’s the answer to that. Are they going to give us some quality players or do we want to progress with the local kids, so their families can come to watch us and build or fanbase?”

The other reason Crarey prefers loans over dual-registration is those players are available for the set period of the deal rather than not knowing their availability from one week to the next.

But so far, the club have not been able to find anyone of the quality they require which would justify the additional expense.

The fact the Raiders now have a blank weekend ahead of the Easter double-header following their elimination from the Challenge Cup may come as a blessing in disguise as it gives more time for some injured players to recover.

“It’s far worse than last year and this week we had 12 training on Thursday night,” said Crarey.

“We’ve looked at loans, but we’ve looked at what we’re going to have to pay for a loan player and then are they going to be good enough?

“Then we’re just filling bodies and that’s probably unfair.”