Ricky Stuart admits he’s hurting after star Canberra five-eighth Jack Wighton opted to leave the nation’s capital for South Sydney, lashing the NRL’s “flawed” contracting system in the process.
The Raiders boss confirmed Wighton had told the club on Tuesday he’d depart at season’s end, the Dally M and Clive Churchill medallist opting to link up with distant cousin Latrell Mitchell and chase a premiership with the Rabbitohs.
It leaves a gaping hole in the middle of Canberra’s spine with the 225-game Raider a stalwart in his 15-year tenure at the club.
“I want to reassure you all that the club did everything possible to keep Jack at the Raiders and we wanted nothing more than to see him reach 300 games and become a one-club player,” Stuart said in a statement.
“I want to let our loyal members and fans know that I bleed green as much as you do, and as much as it hurts today, our future is still ahead of us, and we will continue on the path we best see fit to give this club the success it deserves.
“I personally won’t rest in my drive to make this club successful for you.”
Canberra reportedly offered Wighton $4.4 million over four years to stay at the club, only for him to take significantly less money to shift to Souths.
That’s led to Raiders officials reportedly lodging a formal complaint with the NRL to ensure third-party arrangements are not making up the difference.
NRL CEO Andrew Abdo said the league hadn’t yet received Wighton’s contract but would follow standard processes when they get it.
“When the salary cap auditor receives it they’ll do what they do for every contract, which is check it against the cap, check it for market reasonability and then provide any feedback if there needs to be an adjustment,” he told AAP.
But Stuart took more of an issue with the timing of the negotiations, believing holding contract talks and seeing a player announce a move mid-season was “flawed”.
“It is not fair to (the fans) who I see as our major stakeholders, the club, and as importantly the players,” he said.
“I know it would have been hard for you, our Raiders fans, because I know what the feeling was like for me, to see an image of Jack in a (digitally-altered Souths jersey) on the back page of a Sydney paper today.”
For South Sydney, they’ll need to shuffle their back line to fit their recruit in the centres, with speculation Isaiah Tass could shift to a wing to make way.
Hooker Damien Cook said Wighton opting to join to give himself the best chance of winning a premiership was a vote of confidence in the club.
“(We could) move a few boys around the back line there, which is obviously a hard one at the moment too, because both our centres (Tass and Campbell Graham) are playing really good football,” he told Sky Radio.
“We all believe we can win the comp … for him to pick us and say that’s where he thinks is his best chance, knowing a lot of clubs would have been after him, that’s a massive hit of confidence for us as a team.”
By Alex Mitchell in Canberra
