Jarrad Stack will captain Barrow Raiders for the 2020 season, with the Australian second row stepping into the breach after Martin Aspinwall's retirement.

Stack was one of the key Raiders players to agree to stay on after last season's relegation from the Betfred Championship, with him putting in a series of combative displays in the face of his mother's illness back home.

In what will be his fourth, and probably, final season at Craven Park, Stack will look to lead Barrow on a promotion push, which will get under way with an away trip to fellow contenders Doncaster on March 1.

Since signing from Workington Town in 2016, he has been one of the most reliable performers for head coach Paul Crarey, for whom giving him the armband wasn't a difficult decision to make.

Crarey said: "He is keen to do it and he's a good leader and a good talker as well.

"We spoke about giving him the captaincy and he said he'd like to do it. You're better having one willing man than five unwilling.

"Mossy [Nathan Mossop] will again continue as vice-captain because he doesn't do as many minutes on the field, so Jarrad was probably the obvious choice out of the senior players for us, as a staff, to pick him."

Crarey has held up Stack as an example to the rest of his squad due to the commitment he continued to show to the team in trying circumstances off the pitch.

Barring a couple of weeks in which he was granted leave to head back to Australia and be with his family, Stack continued to give it his all whenever he was called upon during his 23 appearances last season.

It appears likely, though, that he will be heading back Down Under for good after giving the Raiders one more season of sterling service, which involves them trying to battle their way out of League One.

Crarey said: "That situation with his family is still ongoing for him and we're dealing with that, but he still puts his hand up to play.

"He's a great player, Jarrad, he could probably play in Super League - in fact, he had a chance to go to Warrington at one stage. He was loyal to Workington and then he wanted to come down and play at Barrow because his wife and family live down here.

"It's probably going to be his last year with us as well, with him emigrating back to Australia because of his mum being ill at the end of the season.

"He's a good advert for us with the way he presents himself and is good for the club.

"Like Martin Aspinwall, he doesn't take a backward step and he's a ferocious competitor, so he was the obvious choice to become captain."