Barrow Raiders will fight to the end, says head coach

The Raiders' 36-24 home defeat to Toulouse at the weekend means they are still firmly in the fight to avoid relegation.

Injuries continue to take their toll on the Cumbrians, with Charlie Emslie again among the minor injuries.

The encounter with the French team was Emslie's first game after a long injury layoff following bicep surgery, but Crarey confirmed that he had re-injured himself over the weekend.

But the head coach vowed that his team would continue to do their best even in this injury-plagued season.

Speaking on the club's official YouTube channel, he said: “We have a lot of broken bodies.

“We have lost Charlie again with his biceps and will be limping until the end of the season

“I want to stay in this league. We've had so many problems with injuries this year.

“Ramon (Silva) is injured, and (Matt) Costello and Ryan Johnston and Stacky’s (captain Jarrad Stack) mother died (earlier in the season) and he was away from the club for a while.

“It's been such a difficult season, but we're fighting so hard.

“In the name of the spectators, the board, the players and everyone else, we have to stop in this league.

“The championship is a fantastic competition and we want to continue to be a part of it.”

Crarey admits that to do this, his team needs to gain confidence and stick to the plan.

“I think we were a bit sloppy in the first half, our starts were bad,” he added.

“The centers just tapped the ball and carried it in when we tried to play them down the middle.

“We wanted to knock the ball out and slow it down and not give them a transition game, and we gave them that transition game.

“They took ten points away from us and then we threw them at the bottom three and they really tormented us.

“We went into the game down 22-0 and I wasn't happy to say the least. I just wanted them to do what we talked about, which was play formation, kick the ball out, take it away from their three defenders and we did a fantastic job of that (in the second half). We got within 10 points and then decided to shoot the ball back in the air.

“We have to be smarter. Bad throws in the first half, passing to the back three cost us points and we didn't stay in the game.”

“After we were beaten a bit at half-time, we responded a bit, which is pleasing, but against these big teams we have to believe in ourselves from the start.

“If you start slow, and sloppy, there is no turning back.”