Barrow Raiders Ladies captain Jodie Litherland admits leading her hometown club to promotion would be the highlight of her sporting career.
Litherland has led the Raiders since their inaugural season in the Betfred Women’s Super League. She has also played an integral part in the campaign to date, spearheading the club’s charge for promotion.
Having missed out on automatic promotion to Group 1 of the Betfred Women’s Super League by the finest of margins, they will go again in Sunday’s promotion play-off final against Leigh Leopards Women – the side they beat 14-12 on the final weekend of the regular season.
Ahead of Sunday’s game at York’s LNER Community Stadium, Litherland insists the squad are ready to get the job done.
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“Honestly, it would mean everything to me to lead my hometown club into the top tier of the game. It will be hands-down the proudest moment of my sporting career.
“The girls deserve this – to lift a trophy for all their hard work over the years. The staff, everyone at the club, deserve this.
“We were so close to that automatic promotion spot by only five points difference, so we 100% deserve to be there.
“Aside from that, it’s bigger than just us. Some of us are getting older now and probably don’t have a great deal of time left playing, but it’s paving a way for the future young girls of this rugby-mad town, giving them the inspiration to be playing at our local clubs and the Raiders Girls, with the dream of hopefully one day playing for Barrow in Super League.
“Who knows, maybe the glory days can come back and we go on to win the competition one day, having players playing for England like Sal Milburn, Allie and Liz Kitchen and Shazz Tucker.
“These are players I was lucky enough to play with as a 15-year old kid, and who inspired me to be playing today. This is for those that have been, those that are involved now and those that come in the future.”
The Raiders Ladies enter Sunday’s promotion showdown having won their last seven matches in a row.
That run stretches back to the start of July – and Litherland admits there is a feel-good feeling in camp as they prepare to go toe-to-toe with a side promoted alongside the Raiders in November 2021 when the Women’s Super League competition expanded to 12 teams.
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“The mood is great, it always is. The girls are excited and ready and know what’s at stake,” she added.
“Momentum is definitely with us. We know it’s a big game, but ultimately it’s just another game and we are prepared.
“We know what we need to do. We’ve trained hard all year to get where we are now, and we are confident in our ability, individually and collectively.
“There is only going to be one of us that can make it into Super League Group 1 on Sunday, and we’ll do everything we can to make sure it’s us.”
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