The scale of Barrow Raiders’ injury crisis has made it difficult to work on aspects of their game that need improving on, according to head coach Paul Crarey.

The Raiders slid to their 11th defeat in 13 matches in this season’s Betfred Championship when they went down 46-10 against Halifax last Sunday, with their defence being breached with ease at times.

Their situation at The Shay wasn’t helped by them having to mend and make do at present, with several keep players out of contention and others, such as prop Josh Johnson having to play through the pain barrier.

Johnson didn’t train last week and it’s a lack of able bodies in the build-up to games that is preventing Crarey from being able to do much coaching, as he looks to turn their form around

Crarey said: "We had 11, at one stage, last week on training. You spend half the time just patching players up and a lot of the simple things and basic structures goes out of the window.

"You can't work on goalline Ds, which is a massive thing we work on, and we probably haven't had any contact, really, for about eight or nine weeks at training and sometimes it shows.

"The lads are sore, busted up and we're changing the team every week - we lost three from last week, with Shane [Toal], Stacky [Jarrard Stack] and Walney [Jordan Walne] and we've got no consistency in the side.

"But they're all professional rugby players, they're all part of a squad and it's their opportunity to shine, the lads that come in, so if they're not doing that, when the lads come back in they'll be out."

The Raiders' two-week break from action couldn't be coming at a better time, especially as captain Martin Aspinwall, centre Shane Toal and forward Walne all have a chance of coming back into the fold when Crarey's side return to action. That will be against Sheffield Eagles on May 19, which forms part of the Summer Bash at Blackpool.

Crarey said: "It's said to me 'people just don't realise the problems we have, do they?' and that's right because no-one sees that part of us, but we'll keep fighting and we'll stop feeling sorry for ourselves.

"Everybody has got to be accountable for their own performance, although sometimes teams are just that little bit better."