RYAN Duffy will find out this week whether or not he will be facing another long spell on the sidelines after being carried off with a left-knee injury in Barrow Raiders’ 24-22 defeat to Sheffield Eagles on Sunday.

The prop went down in the first half just minutes after coming off the interchange bench and immediately looked in trouble, with the Raiders’ medical staff helping him off the field.

The immediate prognosis given to Barrow head coach Paul Crarey suggested it could be a similar injury to the one Duffy previously suffered on his right knee which needed surgery and saw him miss the entire 2017 season.

“It looks like a medial ligament or a crucial ligament, and they’ve said the prognosis is not good,” said Crarey.

“We have to wait and see what it is, but it’ll be the middle of the week before we know and he’ll have to have a scan on it.

“He’s on crutches and he had to go straight to the hospital. He feels it’s the same injury as last time which kept him out for a long time and it’s the other leg, so it’s going to be tough for Ryan to get back this year if it is that.

“We’re slowly picking up injuries and again they’re long-term, but I said to the boys the cure for this is to come into training and work hard, and go to York.”

Duffy’s injury came just as Declan Hulme was due to go in for surgery on a ruptured bicep which is likely to keep him out for several months, with Gareth Hock still recovering from an operation on a shoulder injury too.

However, Nathan Mossop could return for the trip to York City Knights this Sunday, as could Dan Toal, while Shane Toal and Luke Cresswell are edging towards full fitness as well.

Last year’s League One champions York produced an impressive fightback to win 26-22 away to Dewsbury Rams on Sunday after being 16-0 down, while Crarey is eager for Barrow to rebound after being beaten by Sheffield due to a late penalty.

“It’s not an easy place to go and they won at Dewsbury, so they’ll be flying and we’ve got to pick ourselves up off the canvas,” said Crarey.

“It’s probably psychological because you work hard to get done on the bell, but they’re a team who scored 64 points the week before and ripped Swinton to pieces through the rucks and through the middle.

“It’s a tough division and every week there’s no rest. You can’t hide anywhere, you’ve got to look up and play and it’s how you react to defeats like this.

“A two-point game is nothing in the grand scheme of things; if we’d have been beaten by 30 or 40 we’d have been scratching our heads, but we weren’t.”