Canberra coach Ricky Stuart has backed Jack Wighton to put his State of Origin blunder behind him and lead the Raiders past the Wests Tigers.
The NSW utility was solid off the bench on debut before throwing an intercept which delivered a match-turning try in Queensland's 18-14 win on Wednesday.
If the pass had landed it would have likely put Josh Addo-Carr in for a go-ahead try - instead, Maroons winger Dane Gagai dashed 95 metres to score.
Wighton's debut nevertheless marked a stellar turnaround for the 26-year-old, who was slapped with a 10-game suspension last season for his involvement in brawl outside a Canberra nightclub.
Wighton said he "learned a hard lesson" on Wednesday but Stuart backed his five-eighth to bounce back against Wests less than 48 hours later.
"Twelve or 18 months ago I might have rang Jack to console him because I know how he would be, but I think his maturity will handle those types of situations a lot differently now," Stuart said on Thursday.
"They're the opportunities you've got to take, the 50-50s, and that's what it was, he sets that try up and all of a sudden we have a different view on him, so nothing changes in my mind.
"I'm very confident he'll want to get back out there and get back to the form he's been playing in all year."
Winger Nick Cotric remains under an injury cloud for the Raiders after suffering a knee injury in Origin, but the 20-year-old Blue finished the game.
"It was a pretty tense moment, you never like to see guys go down, especially with knee injuries ... but if he gets passed medically he'll be playing," Stuart said.
"Speaking to him last night he was sore, but I don't think there is any real damage to the knee, it seemed to be stable (according) to the NSW physio.
"He looked to be running well on the back end of the game but is that adrenaline? I'm sure he would have pulled up a little bit sore today but hopefully he'll be okay."
Stuart confirmed his third Origin star, Maroons wrecking ball Josh Papalii, would face the Tigers despite a monster shift against the Blues.
Wests' Moses Mybe played limited minutes for Queensland but will nevertheless feature in a near full-strength team for the clash at Bankwest Stadium.
