Jack Wighton has matured so much over the last 18 months that club coach Ricky Stuart feels no need to console the Blues rookie after his "big play on the big stage" backfired in the form of a Queensland intercept try.
Showing the mental maturity which has been a hallmark of his development on and off the field in the past 12 months, a despondent Wighton did not shy away from his mistake in the wake of his Origin debut.
With the scored locked at 8-all and 14 minutes remaining, Wighton drifted to the left edge and looked to put Josh Ado-Carr over in the corner for what could have been the match-winning try.
However, Wighton and the rest of the NSW players watched on in horror as Dane Gagai streaked 90 metres to give Queensland what would turn out to be an unassailable lead.
"I went for the big play on the big stage, I can't change that now," Wighton said.
"I backed my instincts and thought I'd sucked Gags [Gagai] in enough but he read it well and that's all I can say.
"I probably should have taken it myself I reckon. I had Chambers beat there but I took the play, it didn't come off, and I've just got to live with it."
Gagai intercepts Wighton pass
Stuart has seen Wighton grow as a person and as a football player first-hand, from off-field troubles last year to now making his Origin debut and becoming one of the leaders on the field for the Raiders.
Stuart had no doubt Wighton would bounce back at club level, when Canberra takes on the Wests Tigers on Friday night at Bankwest Stadium.
"Twelve or 18 months ago I might have called him to console him because I know how he would be," Stuart said.
"But I think his maturity, he'll handle this very differently from the comments he's made that it was a 50-50 opportunity and that's what it was.
"He sets that try up and all of a sudden we have a different view of him, but nothing changes in my mind.
"Knowing him as well as I do, he'll just want to get back out and play for the boys here at the Raiders.
"When you lose an Origin match all you want to do is get back out there and play again and get back on the horse."
Wests Tigers v Raiders - Round 13
Wighton was called on to shore up the Blues left edge in place of Cody Walker, who entered the game as one of the NRL's most lethal attacking threats in 2019.
The NSW utility knew he had to be prepared for anything when he got the signal to go on.
"That's my spot on the weekend. I do that job week-in, week-out so I was in the same position just in a different team. It was pretty easy to fit in once I got out there," Wighton said.
All eyes will now turn to Origin II on June 23 in Perth and Wighton hopes NSW coach Brad Fittler sticks solid with the same 17.
"That's what I want now, a little bit of redemption, to come back [and] make it up to the boys," he said.
