‘Not this year’: Jack Wighton rules out Origin return and throws full support behind Brad Fittler and James Tedesco

Raiders five-eighth Jack Wighton says he won’t answer a State of Origin SOS this year after he recently announced his retirement from rep footy, while he’s also thrown his support behind Brad Fittler to stay on as NSW coach.

The Blues have already lost the series after back-to-back defeats in Adelaide and Brisbane, with their entire game plan thrown out the window when Latrell Mitchell (calf) missed both games and Tom Trbojevic was ruled out for the season with a pec injury suffered just three minutes into the game at Suncorp Stadium.

Stephen Crichton and Campbell Graham are the logical options at centre for the final game in Sydney, but Blues fans are calling on Wighton to reconsider his rep retirement as they look to salvage something from the series.

The former Dally M winner was the perfect utility for the Blues given his ability to play anywhere in the backline, the halves or even in the back row, and that’s been a major issue for NSW who have struggled to replace Trbojevic in both games with guys playing out of position.

Wighton won’t make himself available for game 3, but the World Cup winner admits that he’s second-guessed himself at times during the series.

“Not this year,” he replied when asked if he’d answer the call to add to his 10 games in the jersey.

“It’s definitely been hard (to watch) because the body feels good. There’s a lot of passion and pride sitting there and watching them.

“I pinch myself trying to work out if I made the right decision or not (to retire) and if I’d done it too early, so it’s hard at times.

“But one of the reasons why I did it is because I have all the faith in the young kids coming through. The other night we were unlucky to lose ‘Turbo’ early so we had guys playing out of position.

“People are critical and jump the gun with that, but the team has been there both times to win the game, and sometimes that’s just football.”

While Wighton is unlikely to return next year, it’s looking increasingly likely that Fittler won’t be there either after losing his third series in four years.

It’s why people are already trying to work out who could step in as Blues coach in 2024, although there aren’t many obvious candidates.

Canberra coach Ricky Stuart has been mentioned as a man who could handle both roles at the same time, but Wighton says Fittler deserves another chance.

“He (Stuart) has already done it, but I think there’s no one better than Freddy,” he said.

“All the boys love Freddy and everyone forgets about the wins that he’s pulled out of nowhere.

“That’s the game of rugby league where everyone is quick to jump the gun and they forget about the good things. I think that’s crap.

“I love Freddy. He gave me my first opportunity so there’s always a lot of love for him, so he’s the man for the job in my eyes.”

Wighton also defended Blues skipper James Tedesco, who has been a workhorse this series but has struggled to create anything in attack.

It hasn’t helped that Lindsay Collins outleapt him for a crucial try in game 1, while the Raiders also scored twice off high kicks, including Wighton who jumped over his former Blues teammate for the first try of the night on Sunday.

“That definitely wasn’t a plan, and just on Teddy, you’ll never hear me say a bad word about him,” Wighton said.

“He’s the Australian captain, the NSW captain and the Roosters captain. I have all the respect in the world for him and I still believe by far that he’s the best fullback in the game. He’s an animal.

“Same with the coaching perspective and all that crap, people are quick to jump the gun and are quick to forget about all the good things that he’s done.

“They’re quick to replace you and quick to talk bad about you when you’re not even being bad and things just aren’t going your way. I’ve got all the love in the world for Ted.

“He’s still the man.”