Barrow Raiders were shaken by the news of captain Martin Aspinwall’s retirement this week, but head coach Paul Crarey is at least grateful that he has given the club time to find a replacement.

Aspinwall agreed a new contract with the Raiders last month, but the first week of pre-season training convinced the 37-year-old that his body wouldn’t be able to take the strains of yet another season.

It brought to an end a highly distinguished career that began at Wigan Warriors and took in stints at Huddersfield, Castleford, Hull FC and Leigh, as well as a Great Britain tour Down Under in 2006, before he signed for Barrow in 2016.

Aspinwall went on to make 86 appearances during his four seasons at Craven Park, captaining the team during the last two of those, but he went through an injury-hit campaign this year, suffering a torn eyelid as well as a fractured jaw and damaged eye socket.

Crarey said: “He came into training on the Saturday and I watched him train and I had a little inkling then that things weren’t right with Martin and I spoke with him about that.

“He’s then phoned me on the Thursday and said ‘look, my body is not going to take any more’ and he didn’t want to let anyone down.

“He wanted to let us know early enough so we could bring somebody in and before he was paid any contract money, so that speaks volumes for the bloke in itself.

“He could have took the money and battled away all year, but he’s not the type of guy who would do that. He’s honest and he’s been absolutely magnificent for this club, with his leadership qualities.”

Crarey is now looking for a role for Aspinwall, who has expressed a wish to remain with the Raiders in some capacity, having settled in the area.

“He’ll be sadly missed as a player, but the biggest thing is he’s still going to be around the place,” Crarey said.

“He still wants to be around because he thinks a lot of the club - he said that to me - and he’s really enjoyed his time here and said it’s been one of the best experiences of his rugby career, so that’s absolutely fantastic. It speaks volumes for how the club’s treated him.

“It is a massive blow for us, but he’ll still be around the place and, to be honest, I don’t blame him. His preparation for every game has been second to none.

“He was first in for training, the first in for games to get prepared and the biggest thing that I can take from him is his preparation to play against certain players from other teams - he wanted to take on the toughest bloke in the opposition.”