‘We all love him’: Ricky Stuart breaks down over Jack Wighton’s defection, calls out ‘lies’

Ricky Stuart’s post-match press conference was cut short after he got emotional while discussing Jack Wighton’s defection from the Raiders.

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A Raiders official has cut Ricky Stuart’s post-match press conference short after the head coach got emotional while dissecting Jack Wighton’s contract decision.

The 56-year-old was asked about the pressure both the club and Wighton faced during making a call on his future, signing a four-year deal with the Rabbitohs.

Stuart’s raw emotion surfaced, showing how much the 30-year-old five-eighth means to him before he said “we all love him”.

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Stuart and Wighton are currently in the middle of 10th season together in the nation’s capital.

“No one on the outside understands how Don and myself have (had) to protect the club, no one on the outside understands the pressure Jack has been under,” Stuart said.

“Only hear the hearsay and there’s so much lies and innuendo in regards to why Jack is leaving, he is going for a change... and I get that, I really do.

“We all love him... if we weren’t hurt by it, him going, we wouldn’t care about him, we don’t care about the club.

“Am I pissed off he is going yeah, that is his decision,” Stuart said before the Raiders official interjected.

Ricky Stuart was emotional speaking about Jack Wighton. Photo: Fox Sports.

Stuart was also clearly emotional at the start of the press conference when asked about his side’s performance on Saturday afternoon.

The Raiders secured two competition points, beating the Dolphins 31-30 after a Jamal Fogarty field goal.

“We wanted to reveal a bit of character, and I reckon we did,” Stuart said.

“We’ve been criticised as a club, I feel sorry for Jack... Jack is our mate and I’ve had a long association with him and he had to make a decision, he was put in a difficult position.

Stuart also set the record straight regarding Wighton’s decision for leaving the Canberra club.

“I’m OK with the decision, there’s a lot of excuses going around about why Jack is leaving and they are all crap,” Stuart said in the post-match press conference.

Ricky Stuart watches the Raiders defeat the Dolphins. (Photo by Mark Nolan/Getty Images)

“Jack wants a bit of a change, he’s been here a long time and I get that and he’s the least of my worries in regards to turning up every week and playing football.

“But he shouldn’t be put in that position, the way the system is at the moment it is hard on those players to make their decision on their futures.

“Hard for our fans, hard for players who are put into a position when you have got to make those calls.

“All the innuendo, the criticism Jack has got, it is rotten... we need to make it a better system to make it better for the teams and the players making those decisions.”

“It was never any doubt Jack was going to put it aside, I couldn’t be prouder of my playing group and Jack.

“The way we started that game revealed the character of the joint.”

Originally published as ‘We all love him’: Ricky Stuart breaks down over Jack Wighton’s defection, calls out ‘lies’