Kingstone Press Championship Preview: Barrow Raiders v Whitehaven

Correspondent

Injury-hit Barrow Raiders are boosted by the return of Liam Campbell for Sunday’s Kingstone Press Championship derby with Whitehaven.

Campbell missed last week’s defeat against Batley Bulldogs, while Dan Toal and Ben Musolino face fitness tests this week after failing to finish the same match.

Raiders coach Bobbie Goulding is running out of options, but insists he remains confident.

Goulding said: “We were down to 14 players at one point (against Batley), but I will make sure we have 17 bodies who are ready to give it a go. If they play like they did (last week), we will be in with a right shout.”

Whitehaven coach Dave Woods has no new worries as he prepares his side to face a committed Raiders team.

Woods said: “They’ll come at us at 1,000 miles an hour. Bobbie’s very, very good at getting players up for games, and with this being a local derby he’ll have them really fired up for this one.”

Whitehaven remain only one point off a play-off place and Woods insists his focus is upwards, rather than on avoiding relegation.

He said: “We’re only a few points off that drop zone, but we’re also only a few points off sitting in fifth. We’re just concentrating on the play-offs.”

NRL