Barrow Raiders head coach Paul Crarey has revealed another centre was close to signing at Craven Park before it emerged Perry Singleton was available after his surprise departure from Workington Town.

Singleton joined the Craven Park outfit last Friday in what rugby director Andy Gaffney described as ‘one of the quickest deals we’ve ever done.’

The Barrow Island product returned to his hometown due to a change in work commitments and became the first new back to sign for the Raiders for the 2020 Betfred League One season.

The chance to sign the younger brother of Leeds prop Brad Singleton was too good to turn down for Crarey, given his prolific record in the third tier with Workington (12 tries in 20 games) last season.

Crarey said: “It was right out of the blue with Perry. Perry knows Gaff, who called me to tell me he’d been released because there were some nights he couldn’t make training, due to work.

“He doesn’t finish work until 6:15pm and sometimes later than that and he just asked if he could be a squad member and we’ve accommodated that.

“We had another centre that was on the borderline of signing for us, so we’ll probably put that on hold for a little bit now because we were so close to signing him and just negotiating the final points.

“Then Perry’s name popped up at the last minute, which is great for us.”

After a hugely successful period in the amateur game for Barrow Island, which included representative honours with Cumbria and the BARLA Lions, Singleton underwent a seamless transition into the professional ranks with Town since 2017.

He brings extra cover to the middle of the backline, which was sometimes left a bit threadbare due to the injuries that were suffered by the likes of Declan Hulme and Stargroth Amean during the course of the 2019 season, which ended in relegation from the Championship.

Crarey said: “He was Supporters’ Player of the Year and Coaches’ Player of the Year while he was up there and he can play in the back row, as well as centre, where he was leading try scorer for Workington.

“He’s tough and uncompromising and he’s a good lad as well

“I’ve known Perry for a long time through the amateur game and through BARLA as well.

“They’ve brought through some good kids at Barrow Island, including Sam Jones and Carl McBain, who are all knocking around now and are tough and honest lads, so we’re looking forward to working with him in what is a great environment here.”