Barrow Raiders head coach Paul Crarey insists that the departure of Stargroth Amean won't have any impact towards the happiness of his fellow Papua New Guinea international Wartovo Puara.

Puara arrived back in England last week and the hooker is set to be given his first run-out of the year in Sunday's pre-season friendly against Workington Town.

He was due to be joined by Amean at the start of this week, only for the centre to tell the Raiders over the weekend that he would not be returning for a second season at Craven Park due to family issues back home.

That has left Barrow with just over two weeks to find a replacement before the start of the campaign, which will be in the third round of the Challenge Cup.

With Puara set to be needed more than ever, due to a shoulder injury to fellow nine Nathan Mossop, Crarey is confident the 29-year-old has settled into the squad enough for him to not miss his countryman too badly.

"He's pretty single minded, Wattsy," Crarey said. "He knows his own mind, he knows what he wants and when he was over here last year he probably spent more time with Paul Séguier than he did with Star.

"Star's someone who likes his own company, whereas Wattsy is more social and he probably mixed a lot better with the boys, so that won't matter to him.

"He's come here on his own, which is a big step anyway. They didn't come on the same flight because they live in different areas, but he integrates with everyone pretty well and he's keen to stay.

"I spoke to him and he was happy to get over. I know it's a big change in climate - you could see them struggle with the climate when they came in last year, so I know that's a big thing but we've got to move on from Star, he didn't want to come.

"We've got to concentrate on the players that want to be here."

Nonetheless, the loss of Amean is a significant blow to the Raiders, with his 11 tries in 25 appearances last season suggesting he would have had a key role to play in them pushing to get back into the Betfred Championship.

Crarey said: "He can change a game and that's what you want; someone to think out of the box.

"You don't know what you're going to get from him and we brought him in for that reason because he's a game changer and sometimes you need someone like that when teams are pretty much matched up in the big games.

"When we got out of this competition last time we had Chris Hankinson and Joe Bullock and they're both now playing in Super League, so it makes it real difficult for us."