The ACT government's seven-day lockdown has already grown into a three-week one, with more than 7500 Canberrans and their families currently quarantining at home.

It has Wighton determined to give them something to smile about when they take on Manly at Lang Park on Friday night.

The Raiders have struggled against the Sea Eagles recently, winning just two of their past eight encounters - although one of those was their last meeting in round 17.

Wighton, who's based on the Gold Coast with the Green Machine, said lifting the spirits of those Canberrans who were doing it tough was driving them against Manly.

He said it was a similar situation last year when they returned after the NRL was sent into lockdown - with the Raiders charging all the way to the preliminary final.

Canberra are locked in a seven-way battle for the final two spots in the top-eight with just three games remaining - and need to win at least two of those to be safe.

"That's what we always try to do. When they got the game running last year it was getting everybody a little bit of light with just having footy, and now Canberra's in lockdown we'll be trying to do the same," Wighton said.

"We'll be putting our best foot forward to try and pull off a win and try and give everybody back home something to cheer about."

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Wighton took a big step towards returning to his best in the Raiders' 10-point loss to Melbourne last week, setting up all three of Canberra winger Bailey Simonsson's tries.

The 28-year-old said he had a post-State of Origin slump, but put his return to form down to the return of one simple ingredient.

"I'm just having fun again. I had a bit of an Origin lull that game after. I was a little bit down on energy and a few things weren't happening for me," he said.

"It was good to have a bit of fun on the weekend and a few things came off so I'll keep trying to do that."

Wighton couldn't put his finger on exactly why the fun stopped after he'd helped the NSW Blues to an Origin series win over Queensland.

He struggled in the loss to Newcastle, but started to turn it around in the win over St George Illawarra.

The reigning Dally M Medallist said there was a lot of noise around the NRL that could find its way into player's lives.

"I don't know. You just get in the grind of the season," Wighton said.

"There's a lot of nonsense that goes on with this game, a lot of different things can add up at different times - we've got families, we've got lives.

"Sometimes things just roll one thing into another. It was really good to get that refresh behind my back and play a bit of footy and have some fun."

NRL ROUND 23

Friday: Canberra Raiders v Manly Sea Eagles at Lang Park, 6pm.

Raiders squad: 1. Jordan Rapana, 2. Bailey Simonsson, 3. Sebastian Kris, 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. Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, 15. Emre Guler, 16. Sia Soliola, 17. Matt Frawley. Reserves: 18. Dunamis Lui, 19. Trey Mooney, 20. Elijah Anderson, 21. Caleb Aekins.

Sea Eagles squad: 1. Tom Trbojevic, 2. Jason Saab, 3. Morgan Harper, 4. Moses Suli, 5. Reuben Garrick, 6. Kieran Foran, 7. Daly Cherry-Evans, 8. Josh Aloiai, 9. Lachlan Croker, 10. Martin Taupau, 11. Haumole Olakau'atu, 12. Josh Schuster, 13. Jake Trbojevic. Interchange: 14. Dylan Walker, 15. Karl Lawton, 16. Curtis Sironen, 17. Toafofoa Sipley. Reserves: 18. Jack Gosiewski, 19. Tevita Funa, 20. Kurt De Luis, 21. Cade Cust.