Head coach Paul Crarey believes Barrow Raiders will have a solid base to build on when the team comes back for pre-season training next month.

The Raiders will be hoping to have more able bodies available to them when the hard work begins again than the same time last year, when several of their number had to sit out pre-season due to various ailments.

They'll certainly want to get more out of the likes of Shane Toal, Nathan Mossop, Declan Hulme and Ryan Duffy in the 2020 campaign, after their injury-hit years.

Plenty of experience has been added in the shape of new signings Lee Jewitt and Carl Forster, adding to the likes of Martin Aspinwall, Jono Smith, Jamie Dallimore and Stargroth Amean, who have all agreed new contracts in recent weeks.

There will also be plenty of youthful exuberance available to Crarey in the shape of Adam Ford, Jake Carter, Ryan Johnston, Connor Terrill and Luke Cresswell.

Crarey said: "We've got a lot of local players with great attitudes, such as Danny Morrow, Luke Cresswell, people like that, and Ryan Johnston, Jake Carter as well.

"They're good lads and they were always going to stay and then you've got lads like Jordan Walne and people like that, and Ryan Duffy and Jamie Dallimore.

"Some of those boys have taken big pay cuts to stay with us and we're probably not going to lose a lot of last year's team, although we have lost the likes of Alec Susino, Tom Walker and Deon Cross."

Cross was one of only two ever-presents in Barrow's team last season, along with Papua New Guinea international Wartovo Puara, in what was his one and only campaign at Craven Park.

The winger finished as the Raiders' top scorer with 14 tries and his form was enough to keep him in the Championship after he was snapped up by Widnes Vikings, but it wasn't an easy decision to make, according to Crarey.

"I spoke to Deon at the end-of-season dinner and he was talking to me about whether he'd done the right thing or not because he really enjoyed it here," Crarey said.

"But it's nearer to home for him and Widnes are probably a bigger club than Barrow at the moment, with its artificial surface and big stadium and bigger crowds, so that's what he wanted to do.

"But he had second thoughts when he was talking to me and Stevie Rea.

"There's not 'hard sell' in getting people to come here and everyone really gets on because it's a really relaxed environment. People don't sign on for a club if they're not happy."