BARROW RAIDERS coach Paul Crarey hopes Ryan King will maintain his reputation as a quick healer and return sooner rather than later to boost the Cumbrian side’s bid to make the play-offs for the first time since 2022.
The popular Australian, who generally plays in the back row but has shown his versatility down the years, last featured in the 24-19 home win over Doncaster in late April.
The close-season signing from Cumbrian neighbours Whitehaven, where he was in his second spell, having also played briefly for Halifax, has had surgery to repair a nagging knee problem, and was given a target return of four weeks.
But Crarey said of the 27-year-old from Wollongong who played for Newtown Jets in the New South Wales Cup and represented Italy in the 2022 World Cup: “Ryan is a quick healer and could be back sooner.”
Before Sunday’s triumph over bottom side Hunslet, Barrow hadn’t won any of the four games King had missed, dropping down the standings after being second following the 24-24 draw at Batley in round nine.
The 28-22 home defeat by Sheffield was their third in as many matches, taking the gloss off former Super League forward James Greenwood’s 200th career appearance (33 for Barrow).
Winger Andrew Bulman completed a hat-trick of tries as Barrow mounted an attempted fightback from 28-6 down, and Crarey said: “We fell just short, and paid the price for failing to produce an 80-minute performance.
“We made too many errors, particularly in the first half, and we didn’t show enough patience.
“The we gave away some sloppy tries at the start of the second half and got frustrated and Ryan Brown got himself sinbinned (around the hour mark).
“We needed to generate some speed at the rucks, but too often Sheffield were able to disrupt the game and slow us down, and they defended manfully.”