Raiders star Jack Wighton pips Nathan Cleary and Clint Gutherson to claim Dally M medal
Jack Wighton was at a crossroads. And in the end, it was a crucial decision that Raiders coach Ricky Stuart made for him that changed the direction of the young star’s future for the better, writes PAUL KENT.
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Harnessing lightning is the great trick of coaching.
Talent is everywhere. It is found in every pub that sells beer on tap, the great wasteland of talent that failed to be harnessed.
Nothing sees a coach unemployed quicker than falling in love with talent waiting to be fulfilled. It is the fast track to the poorhouse.
Two Christmases ago Canberra coach Ricky Stuart called Jack Wighton into his office wondering if he was ever going to harness the talent inside.
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Wighton was big and rawboned and dangerous. Something he knew all too well.
A month earlier Wighton was in Galambany Circle Court, an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander court that provides a culturally sensitive sentencing option, waiting to hear the outcome of assault charges after a drunken night out.
Wighton was at a crossroads, that much was clear.
Like many, he was a man of talent. Like many, Stuart was trying to harness that talent and not always making a tremendous success of it.
Wighton was out drinking and a dumb idea soon made for a bad night. How it started could be anyone’s guess, but it is a familiar story when alcohol and young men mix.
By the time he got to court Wighton knew he was at a delicate time in his career. On this particular day the Aboriginal Elders inside the courtroom left most of the talking to Wighton but it became clear to him, even as he spoke, that they knew he was at a crossroads and that they believed his future direction now was entirely up to him.
By letting him do most of the talking, they were telling him that.
A two month jail term was suspended and Wighton was let go to make his choice.
And then Stuart called him into his office.
Stuart had a question for him.
Did he want to be the best fullback in the game? Or the best five-eighth?
Wighton received the question as most would. There was safety in his current position at fullback, understanding he could do the job and be good at the job.
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Ultimately, though, as they mulled it over, Stuart’s choice was for the team and underwriting his thinking he understood the Raiders needed a stronger front line, both in attack and defence, and it became clear that Wighton needed to move.
Stuart realised few players impose their presence, physically speaking, on a game like Wighton did when the moment came and so, in the way all the best democracies work, the choice went to the coach.
It was now up to Wighton to make good on it.
Since then there have been numerous examples why the choice was correct.
He emerged as a State of Origin representative, albeit in the centres. Got picked for Australia. Won the Clive Churchill Medal last year.
And as this season wore on and the travel slog began to wear on the Raiders, Stuart leaned on his five-eighth more and more.
Countless times towards the end of the season the Raiders, on weary legs, fought through to halftime either a little in front or a little behind and Stuart knew they needed to rally and Wighton was the one they looked toward.
So he leaned on Wighton.
In almost each case the Raiders needed his physicality and so, against the Bulldogs, Dragons, Warriors, Sharks … Wighton kept finding a way.
Strong runs, leadership. Talent being harnessed.
“He’s a man’s man,” Stuart always says of Wighton. It’s the best way he can find to describe him, something Wighton feels comfortable in, too.
In some ways being the dominant male in a dominance sport like rugby league can be a double-edged sword but, as Wighton has matured, it has its own momentum when harnessed correctly.
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In the Dally M Medal voting Wighton came home with a rush.
He missed the Raiders’ final match but his round 19 game against the Warriors was enough to secure him the medal.
In that game he put Jarrod Croker over to push the Raiders ahead 6-0 but was sin-binned soon after for a professional foul.
In a nod to their kindred souls, Stuart then got fined for throwing a water bottle out of the coaches’ box in protest.
