Barrow Raiders centre Greg Worthington insists he and his new team-mates are excited by the challenge of pushing on following last season’s successful return to the Betfred Championship.
The Raiders finished the 2022 regular season in fourth place, earning a play-off spot in the process.
Such achievements saw Paul Crarey named Betfred Championship Coach of the Year, while the Raiders were crowned Betfred Championship Club of the Year at an end-of-season awards ceremony.
Worthington joined the club on a one-year deal back in October, having lined up against the Raiders for fellow Championship side Halifax Panthers last season.
He admits that the biggest test for the squad will be dealing with heightened expectations when the new Championship season commences.
“Last season, from the outside looking in, Barrow had a fantastic year and probably surprised a few teams,” Worthington said. “The hard bit now is backing that up.
“Everybody knows what the club is about and what it’s aiming to do, so we’ve got to move forward, raise the standards and establish ourselves as one of the top-end Championship teams.
“I’m looking forward to that challenge and doing it with this group.”
Worthington and several other members of the first team squad recently completed their first week of pre-season training, which included a mixture of ball work and fitness training in the sand dunes.
With the new season rapidly approaching, the powerful centre insists that the work done now will benefit the squad in the long run.
“Throughout your career, every pre-season you do is always hard, but it’s enjoyable as well.
“I’ve got to show the lads that I’m willing to dig in. Hopefully it gets easier each week and we have a good time doing it.”
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