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Former Dally M Medal winner Jack Wighton will join South Sydney next season in a massive blow to Canberra and also to the Dolphins in their search to sign a marquee star for their fledgling club.
Wighton’s friendship with Rabbitohs duo Latrell Mitchell and Cody Walker led the NSW and Australian representative to accept a less lucrative deal at Redfern than what he could have earned if he had stayed at the Raiders or accepted Wayne Bennett’s offer to head to Redcliffe, first reported by Nine journalist Danny Weidler, on Tuesday afternoon.
The Raiders have lodged a formal complaint with the NRL salary cap auditor over the likely four-year deal, questioning how the star-studded Rabbitohs can afford to add a top-line talent like Wighton to their roster, according to a NewsCorp report.
The 30-year-old five-eighth, who recently announced he was retiring from rep footy to concentrate on winning a premiership in the remaining years of his career, is a veteran of 225 NRL games with the Green Machine after making his debut in 2012.
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Wighton, who won the Dally M in 2020, a year after he was awarded the Clive Churchill Medal for his efforts in Canberra’s Grand Final loss to the Roosters, informed teammates of his decision on Tuesday but the Bunnies are yet to formally announce his recruitment.
Jack Wighton of the Raiders (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
With the Rabbitohs having Walker at five-eighth and Mitchell at fullback – Wighton’s two preferred positions – they are likely to use him in the centres where he has excelled for NSW in recent years.
A centre pairing of Wighton and Campbell Graham would arguably be the most potent in the NRL next year.
His departure from the Raiders is a bitter blow to coach Ricky Stuart’s chances of breaking the club’s wait for a premiership which stretches back to 1994.
The Raiders, who have struggled to attract high-profile free agents to the national capital, were informed by Wighton last month that he would not be activating a clause in his contract to stay next year because he wanted to gauge his market value.
Bennett met Wighton last weekend in Brisbane while the Raiders had the bye to discuss a potential move to the NRL’s newest franchise but the Dolphins have again struck out after going close to signing a raft of stars last year heading into their foundation season.
NSW coach Brad Fittler said “anyone who gets Jack Wighton’s going to be a good fit for them”.
“He’s a great player. He’s focused, motivated, he’s a weapon.”
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