NRL News: Wighton drops Raiders exit bombshell, Eels out to poach Titan

Jack Wighton is set to go to market for a new contract after telling Canberra that he wants to explore his options at the end of his current deal.

According to the Canberra Times, the Kangaroos star has not ruled out staying at the Raiders but wants to gauge interest in his services.

Under the conditions of his current deal, Wighton had until Round 10 to inform the Canberra hierarchy of his plans. He is estimated to be on around $900,000 a year.

Having seen Mitch Moses and Cameron Munster test the market before ultimately signing with their original club, it is likely that Wighton wants to follow the same path before making a decision on finishing his career as a one-club man at Canberra.

CEO Don Furner acknowledged it could be the five-eighth’s last big contract and encouraged him to consider his options.

(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

“Jack has been incredibly loyal to the Raiders over 14 seasons and never tested himself on the market, he has always committed to this club,” Furner told AAP.

“Jack has a very young family, and this could be his last contract, so he should make sure he is absolutely 100 per cent comfortable with his decision.

“The Raiders will do whatever we can to keep Jack a one-club player and will continue to talk to his management about a package to retain him.”

The 30-year-old has been at the club his entire career after joining as a teenager and making his first grade debut in 2012. He picked up the Clive Churchill Medal and the Dally M Medal as the Raiders made the 2019 Grand Final.

The club have stood by Wighton through several off-field incidents, including his recent arrest after celebrating his 30th birthday in the capital.

He is currently suspended for two games after being found guilty of a late, high shot on Jackson Hastings in Canberra’s defeat to Newcastle at the weekend.

Eels out to poach Titan

Jayden Campbell is in the sights of the Eels as fullback Clint Gutherson moved to assure fans he was not being sidelined by their search for an X-factor attacking weapon.

The Gold Coast youngster has been unable to get a regular starting spot at the Titans this season with AJ Brimson getting his preferred fullback position and Kieran Foran and Tanah Boyd picked ahead of him in the halves.

Foran is possibly going to be out next week after the Round 5 bye with a calf strain while Brimson is facing a month on the sidelines due to a hamstring problem so Campbell is likely to be recalled to the run-on team.

Parramatta are on the lookout for a bench utility who can add attacking spark to their team as they try to go one better than last year’s Grand Final loss to the Panthers.

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According to a report on 100% Footy on Monday night, Campbell has been identified as the kind of player who could give the Eels attacking impact off the bench.

Jayden Campbell. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)

He is contracted to the Titans until the end of next year and they are unlikely to allow a release even if he requests one.

Gutherson could be shifted mid-game to the centres if the Eels land someone like Campbell whose best position is at fullback and the skipper said he had spoken to coach Brad Arthur about the situation.

Speaking on The Big Sports Breakfast on Tuesday morning, he said 

“It was just me and Brad. We just had a conversation. We’ve got three spots there to fill in our top 30 and we were just sort of going back and forth with what we need and where we want to go in the next few years, this season as well, and I just said, ‘Let’s just look at everyone’.

“I’m just there to win games. I’ve always said I want to win and I just love playing footy and want to win games.

“Obviously this came out in the last 24 hours. I think it’s been blown out of proportion, to be honest. I said to Brad I’d be happy to do anything to win games of footy, as would anyone else in the team, wherever you’re playing you just want to win.

“It’s just one of those things that once the media and player managers gets a hold of it, it takes off and I think that’s what it’s doing now. 

“I’m sort of used to being thrown out there and sort of used as bait a bit like that but look it doesn’t bother me one bit. I woke up with a smile on my face.

“I’d be open to (a positional switch) but Brad said to me they’re not just going to do it, just to do it. It’s one of those things they’re going to make sure if it does happen it’s going to be the right player.

“I think I’m only getting into the best part of my career now so it’s going to be hard to replace me and I’m going to keep that spot as long as I can.”

(Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

NRL admits Manly pass wrong but won’t rush technology through

The NRL has admitted referee Chris Sutton should not have called a forward pass in the lead-up to what could have been a match-winning try for Manly against South Sydney in round four. 

The league has no timeline on determining whether to introduce ball-tracking technology aimed at eliminating similarly contentious calls from the game, but is highly unlikely to do so by the season’s end.

With the scores tied in the first half of Saturday night’s game at Accor Stadium, the Sea Eagles made a break up the left side of the field.

As he was being tackled, Sea Eagles centre Brad Parker managed to offload to Josh Schuster, who sent fullback Tom Trbojevic to the tryline with another pass.

But before Trbojevic could place the ball on the ground, Sutton called the play back on the grounds Parker had made a forward pass.

The decision became the subject of debate in the days that followed, not least because Manly eventually lost the game by only one point.

Responding to the fallout from the incident on Monday, NRL head of football Graham Annesley said while the ball had floated forward the match officials had made the wrong call.

Per the NRL’s rulebook a ball must travel forward out of the ballcarrier’s hands to be judged forward.

“The angle of the ball as it comes out of the hands, has been passed backwards,” Annesley said of Parker’s pass.

“The ball has clearly moved forward across the ground, but that’s not the indicator of a forward pass.”

The controversy comes as rugby league bosses deliberate whether to introduce ball-tracking technology aimed at removing contentious forward pass calls from the game.

Developed by UK-based sports company Sportable, the technology would require a small chip to be inserted into the ball that could determine which direction it left a player’s hand.

Last June, Annesley said he had been pleased with initial in-game tests on the technology and was hopeful the NRL could make a decision about whether to adopt it by this season.

The matter remains in the hands of the Australian Rugby League Commission, though, and even if a decision is made in the short-term the technology is highly unlikely to be introduced mid-season.

AAP understands the ARLC has yet to determine the cost of adopting the technology league-wide.

The ARLC will consider two major points: Whether the technology is definitively reliable and whether it will upset the current balance between flow and stoppages in the game.

“We have to consider this trade-off all the time with technology,” Annesley said.

“We’ve gone to some considerable length this year to try and take the bunker out of the game.

“We’ll continue to provide (the ARLC) with as much information as possible. All of those things are still being explored and will continue to be explored, I just can’t put a timeline on it.

“It’s not the sort of thing that would normally be introduced mid-season.”

Despite admitting the latest forward pass call had been “frustrating”, Parker questioned whether obtrusive new technology was the way to avoid repeated instances.

“Sometimes if you tamper with the game too much, it kind of ruins it,” Parker said.

“It’s just one of those things. It’s an on-field decision. (The referees) are like the players, they make mistakes sometimes.”

Farnworth explains ‘very tough’ Dolphins switch

Brisbane centre Herbie Farnworth has revealed why his decision to leave the club he’s been at since he was 15 and join the Dolphins next season was so “very, very tough”.

The 24-year-old England international will join the Dolphins on a three-year deal from 2024, where he will get the chance to finally play under coach Wayne Bennett. 

Farnworth alluded to the Bennett factor, and put to bed reports he had his heart set on a positional switch to fullback next year, when quizzed on his move.

“When I first signed (an NRL deal in 2018) for the Broncos it was under Wayne. He didn’t get a chance to coach me but it is nice him reaching out and signing me for his new team,” Farnworth said.

“At the moment I am just happy in the centres. When I go to the Dolphins I will be keen to play centre. 

“If Wayne sees me in a different position then he sees me in a different position, but my head is fully on centre now.”

(Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)

Bennett told AAP last month he was “delighted” to have signed Farnworth, who he said could play any position in the outside backs with equal aplomb.

Dolphins fullback Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow has put his stamp on the No.1 position in the opening four rounds of the NRL, and Farnworth proved at the World Cup last year with England he is one of the best centres in the game.

The Broncos have promising 20-year-old centre Deine Mariner signed up long-term and he looms as the obvious replacement for Farnworth next year.

Farnworth left England when he was 15 to chase his NRL dream, inspired by countrymen such as the Burgess brothers and James Graham who had blazed a trail.

He came through the Broncos pathways and played under-20s for the club before making his NRL debut in 2019.

“I absolutely love the Broncos. I have been here since I was 15 and I moved out (from England) to play for the Broncos,” Farnworth said.

“It was a very, very tough call (to leave) but I am 100 per cent on board for this year.

“I just want to push on and give it all my best this year and hopefully win a comp in my last year. It would be unreal.”

The Broncos, who host last-placed Wests Tigers on Saturday night, are on top of the ladder.

“In my first full season at the Broncs (in 2020) we got the wooden spoon so it is definitely a nice change to win the first four games. Hopefully we get better each week,” Farnworth said.

He will be a Dolphin from next year but Farnworth played his part nicely in the 18-12 win by the Broncos in the first derby between the clubs last week.

“It was a super-special moment to be part of that first game between the Broncs and the Dolphins. It was good to be on the winning side,” he said.