As his team hunts for an unlikely NRL finals berth, Canberra Raiders playmaker Jack Wighton says rugby league is “fun” again.

The Raiders sit ninth on points differential and will needs wins in the three rounds remaining, starting with Manly on Friday night at Suncorp Stadium.

While a finals appearance is far from assured, it’s a big leap up the ladder after a woeful run where they won just two of 11 games.

Struggling Wighton was in the gun, last year’s Dally M Medal winner not polling a point before voting for this year’s award went behind closed doors.

But the 28-year-old looked to have found his attacking mojo last round against Melbourne, with 27 run metres and three try assists for winger Bailey Simonsson.

The Raiders ultimately fell short but NSW Origin representative Wighton was upbeat about his game on Tuesday.

“I’m just having fun again – after I had a bit of an Origin lull and was just a little bit down on energy and a few things weren’t happening for me,” Wighton said.

“It was good to have a bit of fun on the weekend and a few things came off so I will keep trying to do that.”

Wighton said there was “a lot of nonsense” outside the game, which took its toll.

“Sometimes things just run from one thing to the other so it’s good to get that fresh feeling back and play some footy and have some fun.”

Meanwhile, Wighton said it would be difficult to cover the loss of interchange hooker Tom Starling, who had surgery on Tuesday on a fractured jaw, likely ending his year.

Wighton predicted starting hooker Josh Hodgson would play more minutes.

“It really hurts – Tommy’s been one of our better players all year,” he said.

“Every time he comes on something exciting happens so that’s a little bit of a bugger he’s gone out the way he has,” Wighton said.

In some good news, Raiders skipper Jarrod Croker was able to train Tuesday, boosting his chances of meeting the fifth-placed Sea Eagles after suffering a head knock against Storm.

AAP