Canberra Raiders' star and former Dally M Medalist Jack Wighton is set to test the open market in the coming months.
Wighton isn't off-contract with the Raiders until the end of 2024, however, the final two years of his deal are player options in his favour.
It means he, like every other off-contract player at the end of 2022, has the ability to negotiate with other clubs from November 1 - a deadline which passed almost three weeks ago.
The man who guided the Raiders to the grand final in 2019 and won the Clive Churchill Medal despite being on the losing team, is now set to test his value on the open market.
Wighton's reported contract value of $800,000 is significant and given his 2021 form - when the Raiders missed the finals - it's thought very few clubs may be willing to pay him similar.
It's understood, according to Fox Sports though, that some rival clubs have Wighton's name on their list of talent to investigate.
Former Raiders great Laurie Daley told Sky Sports Radio's Big Sports Breakfast however that Wighton would take up the contract pretty quickly if his form doesn't improve.
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“(If) that’s his preferred option, to test himself on the open market and the Raiders then get a chance to assess and see how he’s playing as well,” Daley told Big Sports Breakfast
“Obviously the contract is in Jack’s favour so he’ll have to improve on what he did last year, because I’m sure if he doesn’t improve on last year, I’m sure he’ll take that contract up pretty quickly.
“But if he comes out and plays the way he did in 2019, he’s a chance of being offered more money at another club.
“But do you want to relocate to another club, when you’re quite settled in Canberra?"
There is a shortage of talented halves off-contract heading into the 2023 season, with those at the top of the list including the likes of Chanel Harris-Tavita, Anthony Milford, Lachlan Lam and young gun Jayden Sullivan, so to clubs at the bottom of the table, Wighton could be an enticing prospect.
The Tigers will be one club who always get thrown up when a player comes off-contract, while the North Queensland Cowboys may be crying out for a game breaker by the end of the season as they get set to run with a halves combination of Chad Townsend and Tom Dearden in 2022, with seemingly no room for Scott Drinkwater in the top 17.
