Barrow Raiders will be using their strange start to the 2020 season as a motivational tool, according to head coach Paul Crarey.

There is the possibility the Raiders will only have one home game in the first nine weeks of the campaign - the visit of Coventry Bears on March 8 - should they not receive home draws in the Challenge Cup.

If that is the case, they will have to wait until the Good Friday meeting against Cumbrian rivals for their second game at Craven Park, which is why they are trying to organise four pre-season games.

What Barrow will not have to put up, however, is the ridiculous three-day turnaround at Easter, which left their players running on empty after quickfire games against Toronto and Bradford.

Crarey said: "That's a big thing for us, but we're pretty focused and we're getting ready now, even though there's still a long way to go until the start of the season.

"We're looking at four friendlies now, with us having that blank weekend at the start of the season, if we can get them because we just want to play and we've got some lads that we want to integrate.

"We've got to be ready for the challenge and it's a good challenge now because most of our games in the first nine weeks of the season are away from home.

"If it was in reverse, I'd be concerned about that, but we're going to get on with and use it as a motivational thing for our team."