Canberra halves Jack Wighton and Jamal Fogarty believe they can pick up where they left off in 2023 and deliver the club’s first premiership in 29 years.
The Raiders have lost one of their spine players on the eve of the season for the second year in a row, with fullback Xavier Savage breaking his jaw last week.
This time last year it was Fogarty who went down, with a knee injury in the final trial match and then hooker Josh Hodgson went down for the season in Round 1.
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Fogarty returned halfway through the season with Canberra sitting in 11th and helped resurrect their season as the Green Machine made an unlikely charge to the finals.
Ricky Stuart’s men won eight of their final 10 games before knocking off the Storm in Melbourne in the first week of finals.
They lost the following week to eventual grand finalists Parramatta, before Wighton went to England and won the World Cup with Australia.
Savage will be replaced by Jordan Rapana until his return in Round 7, but it’s keeping the halves pairing fit and firing all season that will be crucial to Canberra’s success.
“Big time, it will be really good to start the season with Jamal this year and keep building on our combinations from last year,” Wighton told foxsports.com.au.
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“With all the young kids coming through, we’re going to need him now more than ever. We need Jamal to step and lead us around like the leader he is.
“At the World Cup, I was in a team full of leaders. Everyone spoke and a lot of it refers back to the basic stuff, look after yourself, quality training, knowing your role… those are the things I’ve brought back and shared with the team.
“It really helps with everyone buying in at the same time and then the spine starts clicking.
“We’re going to shoot for the stars this year.”
Fogarty doesn’t believe he was the catalyst that turned the Raiders’ 2022 season around, he said it simply came back to nailing the basics.
“I think as a collective we weren’t in sync, even those first few games when I came back we were very rusty,” Fogarty said.
“So we thought let’s simplify things and make it nice and easy and do the simple things really well – I think that was the turning point.
“Everyone has different strengths so once we focused on individuals playing to their strengths and keeping it simple, everyone saw the team we could be.
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“We’re kidding ourselves if we don’t want to finish in the top four and win the comp this year. Obviously that’s every team’s goal but if we can do things better earlier in the season and set ourselves up we’ll be on the right track.”
The classy No. 7 admitted he was looking forward to, hopefully, playing a full season alongside Dally M Medal winner Wighton.
“Jacko is Jacko. Everything he achieves in the game he’s still the most humble dude,” Fogarty said.
“I know deep down he would be over the moon and confident after winning the World Cup, and there’s been a couple of things that he’s brought back.
“Just the way he talks to the group, it’s definitely going to help us as a team.
“We’re two completely different styles of players and body shapes. I’m a little body trying to steer the team and around he’s a large body doing the same thing but with the ability to run over blokes, which I can’t do, so it’s awesome to partner up with someone like Jacko.”
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Fogarty didn’t make his NRL debut until he was 25 and the former Titans captain emphasised he’d never take his role for granted, especially while playing alongside Wighton.
“Definitely every time I pull on that Raiders jersey I feel like I’ve got a job to do and I’m never satisfied with my performance,” he said.
“Even if I play well there’s always things for me to improve on. We’ve got great competition here with (Matt) Frawley and (Brad) Schneider.
“The moment we take it for granted we’ll lose it, so we’ve got to keep that fire in the belly and earn our jerseys every week.”
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Canberra’s superstar props Joe Tapine and Josh Papali’i – who Wighton beat in the semis and final of the World Cup – both emphasised Raiders halves hold the keys to their success.
“Legs (Wighton) is just the ultimate athlete, he could eat pizza for the next eight weeks and still be as ripped as he is now,” Papali’i said.
“He’s brought back from the World Cup a sense of hunger to win, that’s what I’ve realised with Jacky legs, that winning culture he’s come back with.
“That stability with him and Jamal, they could lead us to the 2023 grand final and I really believe their combination is going to be the key to our success.”
Tapine added: “You look at spines and when you have a spine together for a while it just clicks. Top teams like Penrith, their spine is always humming.”
Hookers Zac Woolford and Tom Starling are battling it out to wear the No. 9 jersey in Round 1.
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