Time for Raiders to put Wighton on our back: Stuart

Now Canberra Raiders coach Ricky Stuart says it's time for the club to repay the favour and lift the Dally M Medallist back into form.

The Raiders need their star five-eighth at his best as they face a tough run home to try and secure an NRL finals berth.

That starts with a crunch game against the St George Illawarra Dragons at the Gold Coast on Friday night, with both teams just outside the top eight on points differential.

The Raiders were one of five teams on 18 premiership points vying for two play-off spots.

Stuart said it was up to everyone at the club to put Wighton on their shoulders and help him rediscover his best - given the number of times Wighton's done exactly the same thing for his teammates.

He pointed to the fact there'd been so many changes in the Raiders' spine as a factor, including five fullbacks.

"It's all good when he goes out and takes the game by the throat and wins it for us, we all want to put him on our shoulders," Stuart said.

"In these times it's about supporting a bloke to get his form back, and that's what I'm doing.

"It's time for us to get in and help him because there's been plenty of times where we've needed him to win a game for us and he has.

"That's what a team's all about - getting in and helping your mate. He hasn't lost his talent."

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Wighton's numbers this season were down on 2020, with the exception of offloads - he's averaging 0.44 per game this year compared with 0.23 in his Dally M campaign.

He's scoring less tries (down from 0.59 per game to 0.25), less try assists (0.36 to 0.31), less run metres (102m to 82m), less forced dropouts (0.36 to 0.31) and less kick metres (276.8m to 245.4).

But he showed exactly what he was capable of when he set up Hudson Young's try against Newcastle on Sunday - grubbering in behind the Knights' defensive line and following up to put Young over.

Stuart also said the team owed it to fullback Jordan Rapana to put in a better performance for his 150^th Raiders game than they did for Sam Williams' 100^th last week.

Not to mention Elijah Anderson was set to make his NRL debut off the bench.

"It's a responsibility for all of us now to be better than what we did last week for Sammy's 100^th," Stuart said.

"It's important for us to aim up for both those boys - a debutant and a player playing 150 games."

With the other three teams in the five-way tie all playing teams below them on the ladder, the Raiders need to win to stay in touch with the top eight.

They're helped by the NRL successfully having the Gold Coast added to Lang Park as stadiums approved by the Queensland government to use during the lockdown.

The Raiders have won their past five games at the Gold Coast, while only winning one of their past nine at Lang Park.

"We need to find consistency very, very quickly because we're running out of time," Stuart said.

"And in saying that I have every bit of confidence and belief that we can."

NRL ROUND 21

Friday: Canberra Raiders v St George Illawarra Dragons on the Gold Coast, 6pm.

Raiders squad: 1. Jordan Rapana, 2. Semi Valemei, 3. Jarrod Croker (c), 4. Matt Timoko, 5. Harley Smith-Shields, 6. Jack Wighton, 7. Sam Williams, 8. Josh Papalii, 9. Josh Hodgson, 10. Joe Tapine, 11. Hudson Young, 12. Elliott Whitehead (c), 13. Ryan Sutton. Interchange: 14. Tom Starling, 15. Corey Harawira-Naera, 16. Emre Guler, 17. Elijah Anderson. Reserves: 18. Sia Soliola, 19. Dunamis Lui, 20. Matt Frawley, 21. Siliva Havili.

Dragons squad: 1. Jack Bird, 2. Mathew Feagai, 3. Cody Ramsey, 4. Zac Lomax, 5. Mikaele Ravalawa, 6. Corey Norman, 7. Adam Clune, 8. Blake Lawrie, 9. Andrew McCullough, 10. Josh McGuire, 11. Billy Burns, 12. Tariq Sims, 13. Jack de Belin. Interchange: 14. Talatau Amone, 15. Jackson Ford, 16. Jaiyden Hunt, 17. Kaide Ellis. Reserves: 18. Matthew Dufty, 19. Poasa Faamausili, 20. Jayden Sullivan, 21. Daniel Alvaro.