Nathan Mossop is pleased Barrow Raiders have kept captain Martin Aspinwall around for another season, due to the example he sets around the dressing room.

There were suggestions the former Wigan second row was going to retire at the end of what was a trying season not just for the team, who were relegated from the Betfred Championship, but for Aspinwall himself.

The 37-year-old needed plastic surgery after having his eyelid torn during Barrow’s match against Widnes in March, while his campaign was ended in August by a fractured jaw and a damaged eye socket suffered against York.

Given neither of these affected his joints or muscles, Aspinwall believes he still has plenty to give and signed a new one-year contract earlier in the month, much to the delight of Mossop, who himself had an injury-plagued year.

Mossop said: “Martin has been a fantastic player over his career, he brings a wealth of experience and what I like about him is that he’s a leader that does his leading on the pitch as well.

“It’s good to go out there with those types of people and if Paul [Crarey] sees me this year as being part of that leadership group that sometimes he can reflect with, then great.

“We’ve also got Jarrad Stack as well, who’s another experienced player, Jamie Dallimore, a group of players that, within the squad, can work with Martin as a club captain. I think we’ve got a good balance going into next year.”

Mossop missed the last three months of the season with a shoulder injury and will soon find out how big a part he will be able to play in pre-season training, which begins next month.

He has been keeping himself fit in the meantime, as his surgery never prevented him from running, meaning some parts of it should come easily anyway.

“Obviously, I’ll have to work alongside the club physios and the doctors to see what happens on November 14 (when he has his next hospital check-up),” Mossop said.

“As far as pre-season goes, the majority of it I’ll be able to fly straight into, so I’m looking forward to it.

“Although it feels like we’ve not been away that long, I have enjoyed the bit of time off since the end of the season and it suppose it’s good that it refreshes us and gets us ready to get firing back into it”