{"id":414298,"date":"2026-01-15T09:14:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T09:14:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/414298\/"},"modified":"2026-01-15T09:14:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T09:14:09","slug":"barrow-raiders-see-future-potential-in-new-first-team-prop-total-rugby-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/414298\/","title":{"rendered":"Barrow Raiders see future potential in new first-team prop \u2013 Total Rugby League"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

BARROW RAIDERS have handed a first professional deal to teenager Stevie Watson after he impressed during pre-season.<\/p>\n

The 17-year-old prop is a product of the club\u2019s Furness Raiders development set-up and he is the latest local to make his way through that pathway.<\/p>\n

Raiders coach Paul Crarey said: \u201cThe Furness Raiders system has given us many players since its inception, and was specifically created for this purpose.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will continue to promote local prospects, as it\u2019s the most sustainable way we can build our teams without the bigger budgets that many others in our division have.<\/p>\n

\u201cStevie has been monitored during training and played some big minutes in the (warm-up) game against North Wales Crusaders recently.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is a big, raw, powerful middle, one we feel has the potential to be a future cornerstone of the pack.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having faced North Wales, Watson, who played his community Rugby League for Millom, appeared in the 74-6 home win over Scotland in Shane Toal\u2019s testimonial on Saturday. \u00a0<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cI feel really privileged to get the chance to sign for Barrow.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t wait to keep learning from Paul Crarey and his coaching team this year, and hopefully prove my worth in the Championship.\u201d<\/p>\n

Watson follows hooker Trent Ruddy in stepping up from Furness Raiders.<\/p>\n

Hull KR handed amateur trip as Challenge Cup third-round draw revealed<\/a>Shane Toal scores testimonial double as Barrow Raiders thrash Scotland<\/a>Joe Bullock tipping Barrow Raiders for a big campaign<\/a>Championship 2026: Barrow Raiders preview, squad and signings<\/a>Championship ins and outs: Every transfer for 2026 season<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BARROW RAIDERS have handed a first professional deal to teenager Stevie Watson after he impressed during pre-season. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":414299,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-414298","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-rugby","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=414298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414298\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/414299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=414298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=414298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=414298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}