Will Wighton’s move to five-eighth pay off?

Having previously shifted from the centres to fullback, Jack Wighton looks set to be thrown straight into the deep end with coach Ricky Stuart ready to deploy him at five-eighth in 2019.

Having been previously renowned more for his ball-running capabilities and brute force rather than ball-playing subtleties, there have been many critics of Wighton’s mooted shift to the halves, myself included. However, if you look at the numbers, both in regard to Wigton himself and the Raiders style of play, it looks like the move could pay off for the men from the Capital.

Having made his name as a centre coming up through the junior at Canberra, Wighton has displayed through his performances in previous years that he’s more than capable of switching positions and roles within his team. However, this new positional change won’t be as much of a seismic shift as the previous one, thanks to the way in which modern fullbacks are used as second five-eighths in today’s game.

If you look at last season, as a team the Raiders had a super-charged attack, ranking fourth in the competition for tries. All this being done with a five-eighth (Blake Austin) who similarly to Wighton is a run-first kind of player. This will help both the spine and other players running off Wighton, as they will not have to adapt or alter their style of play substantially when switching from Austin to Wighton. If anything, this positional switch could result in an increase in attacking output for the players running off Wighton as he recorded more try assists (8) than Austin did (7) in nine fewer games in 2018.

This switch should also translate well for Wighton individually, as it means he won’t have to alter his style of play from the norm. This is because the Raiders attack isn’t overly reliant on a dominant ball-playing five-eighth. Instead, they utilise the five-eighth as someone to provide early service to their edge back-rowers and centres or be a ball-running threat themselves.

The reason the Raiders utilise their five-eighths as such is because of the attacking players they have in their arsenal out wide. In particular their centres Jarrod Croker and Joseph Leilua, who are statistically two of the most dangerous attackers in the competition. With Croker and Leilua ranking 3^rd and 10^th respectively for line break involvements amongst all NRL centres. These high levels of line break involvements are aided by the early service provided by their halves, as well as the quality of the wingers outside them. Namely Nick Cotric and Jordan Rapana, who rank 3^rd and 10^th in the NRL for average tackle breaks per game. This high level of line-break involvements from the centres combined with the similarly high-level of tackle breaks from the wingers always bodes well for a team’s attacking output.

Wighton’s move to the front-tine will also be aided by the fact that he is going to be sharing the playmaking duties with a dominant halfback, that being Aidan Sezer. Sezer is your typical organising half, possessing the most kick meters, most forced dropouts and second most receipts (behind only hooker Josh Hodgson) for the Raiders in 2018. His knack of being the primary ball-controlling and directing half will allow Wighton to pick and choose when to assert himself on the game, rather than be relied upon as the primary playmaker.

It’s clear to most NRL fans that Canberra does not struggle with the ball in hand, nor should they with Wighton moving to five-eighth. So that indicates towards this positional shift being driven with different outcomes in mind. That appears to be in regard to their defence.

Coach Ricky Stuart himself has admitted as such, having said earlier in the year to NRL.com "I've got to make a decision on No.7 and No.6 and my whole focus will be around my strongest defensive line”.

Although he is an attacking spark for Canberra, Blake Austin wasn’t the greatest exponent of defence, having been responsible for 16 try causes at an average of 0.67 per game (the second most of any Raider) in 2018. Swapping in Wighton in for Austin should go a long way to helping the Raiders plug their leaky right edge, which was responsible for just under half of the 84 tries conceded in 2018. This is as Wighton is far less defensively suspect than Austin, partly thanks to his formative years defending in the centres, and although his tackle efficiency percentage isn’t outstanding, this is mainly a function of being a fullback and not getting the opportunity to make many dominant tackles. Wighton’s missed tackles have also decreased every year for the past five years.

Although the centre, come fullback, now come five-eighth is viewed predominantly as a ball-running threat, the blueprint for him to be a success at five-eighth in the Raiders system is there for all to see. If the former Orange CYMS junior can fulfill his primary objective of being solid defensively, and in conjunction with Aidan Sezer continue to provide early service to his edges, who’s to say Wighton’s next positional shift won’t be another success.