St George Illawarra are bracing for the wrath of Raiders star Jack Wighton as the Blues forgotten man looks to press his claims for an Origin recall in Wollongong on Sunday afternoon.
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Wighton's been a NSW regular through Brad Fittler's coaching tenure but his selection at left centre for game one, with rookie Stephen Crichton on the bench, was one of the most hotly debated heading into the series opener.
The 29-year-old justified Fittler's faith in turning on arguably his best performance in the Origin arena in what ultimately proved a loss to the Maroons. He was certain to be picked for game two before an untimely positive COVID test ruled him out of the trip to Perth, Matt Burton producing one of the great Origin debuts at left centre in his absence.
It leaves Burton at Winx-like odds to retain the berth for the decider in Brisbane, though Wighton and Latrell Mitchell remain part of an intriguing selection puzzle. Wighton's utility value makes a recall on the bench a distinct possibility, with Sunday's clash at WIN Stadium his last chance to show his wares.
Dragons utility Moses Mbye says it's something his side will need to be wary of should Wighton return from his COVID spell in Wollongong.
"Jack's one of the elites in the game and he's been one of the elites for a number of years now," Mbye said.
"In 2022 there's a lot curve balls you can get now, COVID, flu and viruses, all sorts of things can put you out of the game at the moment. It was always going to happen, at some point someone was going to miss something important due to COVID.
"Unfortunately for Jack it was him, but I'm sure he won't be the last one. The series is still alive and I'm sure Jack will be in the mix for game three. He's too good a player not to be there so I'm sure he'll get an opportunity somewhere.
"State of Origin [selection] aside, whenever you play the Raiders Jack Wighton's going to be one to watch. He's going to be hard to contain and we expect that. He's a quality player and has been for a number of years so he's a focus player for us and we're expecting a big game from him."
Origin selection headaches aside, the showdown in Wollongong is a crucial one for both sides currently sitting on seven wins, thought the Dragons are two points clear on the ladder by virtue of the bye that the Raiders will enjoy next weekend.
It could readily be labelled a 'four-point game' for both sides, but Mbye is wary of viewing it as such.
"It's hard to say one's more important than others, two points is just so valuable wherever you can get them," Mbye said.
"The competition's so tight, midway through the year there's a logjam in the middle, we just need to win games. There's no game that's not important. You can't count them as four points or things like that.
"You get one chance a week to get two points and for us it's this Sunday. We'll have no excuse coming off the back of a bye, everyone's going to be in the best nick they've been in since March.
"Canberra are a physical side, they've got some big bodies and they're playing a really good brand of footy at the moment. They stumbled a little bit early but Ricky's got them on track and they're looking like a really dangerous side. We need to be prepared for a really big game."
The Dragons produced their best performance in a number of years in a first-half demolition of Souths in Wollongong prior to the rep round hiatus, but Mbye feels the break was still "timely" ahead of the back stretch of the season.
"I'd much rather the break at this time of the year," Mbye said.
"Everyone can refresh, not just physically but mentally as well. It's a long season and we want to be playing our best footy come September and obviously October's where we want to be playing.
"We're looking pretty healthy as a squad. We had a few injuries early in the piece but it looks like we're getting a few troops back now and this is a really important time of the season for us.
"We played a really good brand of footy against Souths but to be fair Souths were probably a little bit off that night too. We still got a fair few things wrong and there's still a lot that we want to improve on.
"We've done a good job putting ourselves in a position where we're going to be able to push for finals and it's important we start building towards our best footy towards the back end of the year."
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