Canberra Raiders' Jack Wighton's World Cup efforts to give Brad Fittler the State of Origin Blues

Canberra Raiders star Jack Wighton's offload put his Australia winger Valentine Holmes over in the corner in one of a few key moments that sent the Kangaroos through to the final of the Rugby League World Cup.

He was able to dish it wide off the ground to help put Australia ahead 10-8 over New Zealand in their semi in Leeds on Saturday.

The Kangaroos went on to win 16-14 in a nail-biting Test match, with Australia into the final against either England or Samoa.

Wighton was excellent at right centre for Australia, validating the faith Kangaroos coach Mal Meninga had in the Raiders five-eighth.

The 29-year-old was a shock omission from the Blues' State of Origin III side this year - a game Queensland won to seal the series.

Wighton was the Blues' best in Origin I before he was ruled out of the second game due to COVID-19.

Fittler opted for Matt Burton and Stephen Crichton in the centres for the decider, with Wighton 18^th man.

The Blues went down 22-12, with the Maroons celebrating another underdog victory.

Wighton ran for 135 metres, had a try assist, made a line break, had a line-break assist, made three tackle busts and 17 tackles.

He had the kind of impact that would've been ideal for the Blues in the Origin decider.

Kangaroos second-rower Liam Martin was full of praise for both Aussie centres - Wighton and Latrell Mitchell.

"You have the likes of Latrell and Jackie that can just make things happen," Martin told Fox Sports.

"Their skill and talent's just out of this world."

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Wighton swapped jerseys with fellow Raider Jordan Rapana after the game - with Sebastian Kris helping Rapana get into the skin-tight top.

Rapana was excellent for the Kiwis - running for 163m, making a line break that gave New Zealand a sniff of getting the win, made an offload and eight tackle busts.

Raiders prop Joe Tapine was also solid, running for 143m, with four offloads, one tackle bust and 36 tackles.

Kiwis coach Michael Maguire, who will join the Green Machine as Ricky Stuart's assistant coach next year, said the Kiwis hadn't quite capitalised on their chances.

"One thing I do know they've done is the boys have closed the gap between [the two teams]," Maguire said.

"They've been so devoted to change the jersey to a better place and I believe they have done that.

"One thing about a lot of the boys is they're actually the best players within their clubs.

"The more they get of that and the more big games we play the experience comes."

Mitchell was one of the first players Wighton embraced after the semi-final win.

He credited Wighton as one of the players who had helped him deal with homesickness during his time in England.

Now Mitchell's dreaming of adding a World Cup to his already impressive resume, which included two NRL premierships and 2019 Dally M centre of the year.

"If you didn't dream you wouldn't be able to achieve and for me it's all about dreaming," Mitchell said.

"I've dreamt a lot of things and I've achieved them. One thing is to lift the trophy, but for now it's about celebrating tonight, focusing on tonight and moving on."

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