South Sydney will unleash their version of the Avengers on the left edge this weekend, but Jack Wighton has warned the NRL to “not sleep” on his side of the field even if everything is “back to front” in his new role.
The horrors of last year’s injury-hit campaign are behind the Bunnies who will have try-scoring machine Alex Johnston on the left wing, superstar Latrell Mitchell at left centre, key recruit David Fifita in the back row and veteran playmaker Cody Walker calling the shots at five-eighth.
It’s an edge that screams points, points and more points with an ensemble of modern stars, with Walker keen to see what it all looks like in an NRL setting after he battled his own injury demons last year.
“It’s hard to compare different edges but I think we’ll just continually grow that,” he said after some encouraging signs in the trials against Manly last month.
“We weren’t perfect in Mudgee. There is going to be that little bit of working out what works for each of us. I think (in the trials) we saw that if (the defence) stack that left edge, we’ve got some really good strike players on the right edge.
“I’m really impressed with what the right edge is doing, just being ready if they do stack that side. Everyone’s talking about the left edge and how they’re going to defend it. But it’s always important to have that strike on the right edge.
“It has been a difficult time for us over the past 18 months just in terms of injures and just getting the strongest team on the park. But we’ve had a really good pre-season.
“The focus for us just needs to be on the little areas of our game and not all the flashy plays early in the season. It’s just about getting those little areas of the game that are so important in the grand scheme of things and so important to the results.”
Wighton has spent pretty much all of his career on the left edge but will run out at right centre on Sunday afternoon, with the former Raider conceding he’s still getting used to it.
“It’s like walking on your hands every week. Everything’s back to front,” he laughed.
“When they told me I was jumping over to the right, obviously I’ll do whatever’s best for the team. It takes some real adjusting with your footy. Your passing, your stepping, palming is all back to front. I feel like I’ve settled but there’s still a lot of work to do.
“You can’t sleep on us (on the right). We’re the workers. We’ll do all the work and the left can score all the tries.
“I don’t know if we’ll see the ball outside our 20m line. We’ll do all the hard carries and they can do all the freaky stuff.”
With Jamie Humphreys out suspended, youngster Ashton Ward will fill in at halfback where he held his own last year under difficult circumstances.
“He’s a great young kid. It can be a little bit daunting to be playing next to such a dominant half like Cody,” Wighton said.
“But he’s talking and growing. He’s organising the team, he’s pushing the forwards (around) and he’s getting repeat sets as well. It’s been really good working with him.”
Originally published as ‘It’s like walking on your hands’: South Sydney’s left edge is the stuff of nightmares for rival teams, but ‘don’t sleep’ on the other side