The Canberra Raiders will prove to be the beneficiary of Jack Wighton being named as the NSW Blues 18th man.
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It means they will get the five-eighth back fresh and ready to go for Sunday's Melbourne Storm battle.
But his teammates were still shocked by Brad Fittler's decision for State of Origin III.
"I thought from his performance in game one that he would definitely be in the 17 somewhere," Raiders second rower Hudson Young said.
"[But] it's even better for us that he's not playing I guess, not risking him for injury.
"So he'll be fresh and ready to fire for us."
Wighton was the best on park for the Blues in game one, before a positive COVID-19 test kept him away from game two.
The 29-year-old will be waiting in the wings on standby for the decider in Brisbane on Wednesday night, ready to take to the field if he is called upon.
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Raiders lock Adam Elliott acknowledged the fire it would ignite in Wighton upon his return to Raiders HQ for their round 18 battle.
"You can tell he comes back and brings a lot of energy to the whole group," he said.
"And especially him not playing, I'm sure he'll be hanging out to get a game under his belt.
"We're really looking forward to getting him back."
Elliott and Young both touched on the class their other Origin teammate Josh Papalii would bring to the Queensland Maroons' forward line.
But they both had a Blues win on their bingo card.
One thing that depended on for 24-year-old Young was the number of minutes Billy Slater utilised Papalii, as he hoped it would be limited for the Blues sake.
And although some disruption hit the Maroons camp this week, with Cameron Muster and Murray Taulagi ruled out for the decider at Lang Park due to COVID-19, Elliott admitted Queensland could not be written off.