Rugby director Andy Gaffney is hoping Barrow Raiders can get full use out of second row Danny Morrow next season after he signed a new one-year contract with the club last Saturday.

It has been an injury-hit couple of years for Morrow, who was only able to make 14 appearances in the season just finished, which ended in relegation from the Betfred Championship.

He has played 51 games in total for the Raiders, who are his hometown club, in total since being brought into the professional ranks by head coach Paul Crarey from amateur club Walney Central in 2016.

Morrow is the fourth player to pledge to help Barrow push for promotion from League One at the first time of asking next season after Stargroth Amean, Wartovo Puara and Jamie Dallimore.

Gaffney said: “He’s suffered a bit with injuries this year, but hopefully when he comes back for pre-season all that will be behind him because when he has been fit, he’s played well.

“He’s got a good engine on him, he can do a lot of minutes and he’ll be one of the key players for next season as we try to push for promotion.

“We had some really good results against top-end teams in the middle of the season and he played in them games and made an impact when he’s come on.

“He’s a good character to have around the lads and he puts himself forward all the time to play, whether we’re travelling away.

"His commitment to the club is really good, he's a good trainer, and he’s a really dependable member of the squad.”

Morrow will be hoping to bring more contributions to match the 2017 League One Cup final, when he scored two tries in their victory over North Wales Crusaders at Blackpool

It was a busy week of announcements from the Raiders, who revealed their first new signing for the 2020 season in Millom prop Connor Terrill while losing front rowers Tom Walker and Alec Susino to Whitehaven and Featherstone, respectively.

Gaffney and Crarey have been pleasantly surprised by the response from the squad as to who would be staying on to help with the rebuild from what has been an extremely trying campaign.

Gaffney said: “Recruitment has gone really well so far. There are going to be a few more new faces and all will be revealed over the next few weeks.

“The players that are coming in are real quality additions and one that we need to help us bounce straight back up from League One.

“If we can get those signings over the line, we’ll have a really tight and strong team.”