{"id":383500,"date":"2024-04-10T20:05:19","date_gmt":"2024-04-10T20:05:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=383500"},"modified":"2024-04-10T22:05:34","modified_gmt":"2024-04-10T22:05:34","slug":"wightons-raiders-exit-a-blessing-in-disguise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=383500","title":{"rendered":"Wighton's Raiders exit a 'blessing in disguise'"},"content":{"rendered":"

Queensland Maroons coach \ufeffBilly Slater<\/a> says Jack Wighton's<\/a> departure from the Raiders was "a blessing in disguise" for Canberra due to the sudden unexpected rise of young five-eighth Ethan Strange.<\/p>\n

The 19-year-old will receive a contract extension in the coming days, Wide World of Sports' The Mole reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Transitioning from the NSW Cup<\/a>, the little known half made a mark during pre-season trials, beating out Kaeo Weekes to secure his start in the halves alongside veteran No.7 Jamal Fogarty.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Ex Souths skipper Reynolds reacts to messy saga<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Tasmanian MMA star spills on shock doping ban<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> AFL reveals punishment for 'highly offensive' slur<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

While Strange had a rocky start to his rookie season, the Canberra youngster made a big impression in the Raiders' 41-8 win over the Eels<\/a>, with his dominant performance a standout in the thrashing.<\/p>\n

\"Matthew<\/p>\n

The five-eighth earned the praise of league legend Slater, claiming the youngster is "a real player of the future."<\/p>\n

"\ufeffI thought some of the young players, Matt Timoko and Xavier Savage were super. Young Ethan Strange, he looks a real player of the future," he said on Nine's The Billy Slater Podcast<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Slater added that Strange's impact in 2024 had allowed the Raiders to quickly move past the high profile exit of club favourite Jack Wighton, who has walked into a hurricane at new club the Rabbitohs.\ufeff<\/p>\n

Watch the 2024 NRL premiership live and free on Nine and<\/strong> 9Now<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/omny.fm\/shows\/the-billy-slater-podcast\/qld-injuries-mounting\/embed<\/a><\/p>\n

"\ufeff<\/em>It looked like last year that when \ufeffJack Wighton decided to leave the club that, it's the end thing, you know, we can't see past that," Slater said.<\/p>\n

"But sometimes when things happen at your club and players move on, and you think you can't replace them, something else happens and all of a sudden it's a blessing in disguise.<\/p>\n

"Not to say Jack Wighton wouldn't be an asset \ufeffat the Raiders, I just think this young fella, he's a real player of the future. I really enjoy watching him play."<\/p>\n

The Queensland great named the Raiders as his team of the week, with the team significantly improving from their previous "disappointing" 22-36 loss to the Sharks.<\/p>\n

\"Canberra<\/p>\n

"I thought the Raiders were really disappointing last week [against the Sharks]. Their coach Ricky Stuart<\/a> didn't hide his frustrations with the team," Slater added.<\/p>\n

"He was very honest in his post-match interview last week and even in the press conferences throughout the week, he was very open and honest about how disappointed he was with his players.<\/p>\n

"But boy didn't they turn it around. They were excellent against the Parramatta Eels. \ufeff<\/p>\n

"I think they were the team of the week."\ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Queensland Maroons coach \ufeffBilly Slater says Jack Wighton's departure from the Raiders was "a blessing in disguise" for Canberra due to the sudden unexpected rise […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":383502,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383500"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=383500"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383500\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":383505,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383500\/revisions\/383505"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/383502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=383500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=383500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=383500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}