PAUL Crarey is confident Barrow Raiders will be able to cope in the absence of Declan Hulme after the centre suffered a ruptured bicep in the 18-18 draw with Wigan Warriors.

Hulme was forced to miss a large part of the 2018 Betfred Championship season due to injury and is now facing missing the first four months of the 2019 campaign.

But unlike last year, where back row Jarrad Stack was often pressed into action as an emergency centre, head coach Crarey believes the Raiders are better placed.

“He’s ruptured his bicep and it’s retracted up his arm,” said Crarey. “It looks like he’ll be out for between 12 to 16 weeks, which is massive.

“But I thought Deon Cross did well and we’ve got Stargroth (Amean) who can play at centre, whereas last year we were putting second-rowers out there.

“We’re a little bit healthier and (chairman) Steve (Neale) said if we can get some bigger crowds in then we might be able to bring some players in.”

As for the game itself, Crarey took much encouragement from Barrow’s display as they battled to earn a draw against the reigning Super League champions in their final pre-season match.

“I thought we were smart and did the little things really well,” said Crarey. “I thought in the first half, with the wind and rain behind them, they could have gone route one but they played a bit lateral and let us off.

“They only got us on kicks, which was pleasing because we were very difficult to break down apart from a repeat set where they got us on a crash-ball over the line.

“I thought we ground it out well and our young players are coming on a treat.”