A dream NRL finals appearance has ended in a double blow for teenage sensation Jack Wighton with first-grade selection costing him a chance to chase under-20s premiership glory.
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The junior Canberra Raiders will go into their preliminary final against the St George Illawarra Dragons on Saturday night without Wighton after he made his NRL return last weekend.
A shattered Wighton needed the Raiders NRL side to progress to the next stage of the competition to be eligible for selection in both teams.
However, the Raiders' loss to South Sydney last weekend brought Wighton's year to an abrupt halt.
The 19-year-old has only played 120 minutes since injuring his toe in a trampoline accident four months ago, but he would have been a massive boost to the under-20s' hopes of winning the title.
Instead he will be watching from the stands and as the highest-ranked side remaining in the premiership race, Wighton backed his teammates to charge into the grand final.
''It's pretty devastating, every kid's dream is to play first grade, that's for sure,'' Wighton told The Canberra Times.
''I'm very happy and proud to be in the team with the boys. But it would have been unreal to get an opportunity to play with the under-20s boys and see what we could do, so I'm a bit disappointed.
''This [under-20s] team can do anything, if we turn up with our heads switched on then we're an unreal team and we've got the talent and players to go all the way through.''
Raiders under-20s coach Andrew Dunemann named his team yesterday for the preliminary final.
The Raiders rested last weekend after beating the defending premier New Zealand Warriors by one point in the opening weekend of the finals.
Centre Edrick Lee headlines the list of rising stars after making his NRL debut this year and scoring two sensational tries against the Warriors.
While it's a blow to be missing Wighton, the team has proved it is capable of strong performances without the powerful outside back.
Wighton broke into David Furner's NRL squad in round two and held on to his position until a bizarre injury appeared to end his season. He damaged ligaments in his toe while trying to jump off a trampoline. The injury was so bad he was out of action from round 10 before making a surprise 40-minute comeback for the under-20s two weeks ago.
Jarrod Croker's fractured cheekbone then resulted in a shock recall for Wighton as he was thrown into a finals cauldron against the Rabbitohs.
It was a boom rise from promising junior to first grade and Wighton said he learned ''life lessons'' along the way.
The biggest lesson is simple: ''no more trampolines''.
''[The injury] showed me footy is only short and it's my job right now,'' Wighton said. ''I can't be mucking around outside of footy and doing stuff that could wreck my career. It's a lot of things, no more trampolines and I need to calm down off the field and look after my body to just think about things before I do them.
''Having to sit down and watch the boys was devastating all year and I really wish I could have played more games in either under-20s or first grade.''
The Raiders under-20s won the inaugural junior grand final in 2009 with a star-studded team.
That team boasted Josh Dugan, Jarrod Croker, Shaun Fensom and Joel Thompson.
The new generation has Mitch Cornish, Lee, Anthony Milford and Shannon Boyd.
Wighton only played one under-20s game this season before Furner elevated him to the top squad.
He made an instant NRL impact with his strong defence and agility in attack. Wighton has signed a contract extension until the end of 2014 and hopes his semi-final experience will help accelerate his development next year.
