NRL: Canberra Raiders' Jack Wighton issues defiant vow, but coy on booze ban

Orange-born Wighton fronted media at Raiders headquarters on Wednesday after earlier pleading not guilty to fighting in a public place and failing to comply with an exclusion direction after an incident with Latrell Mitchell on February 5.

He was unable to comment on the alleged fight with mate Mitchell, who also pleaded not guilty to fighting, affray and resisting a public official, with the pair to return to court at the end of the season.

But the Raiders pivot moved to reassure his Raiders teammates and the club's fans that his focus was on chasing a drought-breaking premiership. "My message is always with actions, and I'm not going to sit here and talk about it, I'm going to show you," he told a media scrum at Raiders HQ.

Asked if he would consider going on a booze ban to avoid any more distractions, Wighton said: "I don't know, that's personal and between me and the club."

Despite Wighton's past alcohol-fuelled controversies, the Kangaroos star said he was "not worried" how the club would react to the incident.

Wighton was grateful the court date wasn't until the post-season, and was adamant it wouldn't be a distraction, telling reporters "the show goes on".

"It gives me full focus on football. We've got a team here and a job to do and we're two weeks out so very excited about the year to start," he said.

In the aftermath of the incident, Wighton and Mitchell released a joint statement expressing remorse for putting themselves in a situation "to embarrass [their] clubs and the NRL", and that they were "sorry" for their "harmless wrestle".

The Raiders need Wighton to fire this year and there is hope his partnership with Jamal Fogarty will steer the club back to the top eight.

The 30-year-old admitted the Raiders were "clunky" in their last trial match - a 36-4 loss to the Wests Tigers - but was confident things would turn around for the round-one clash against the North Queensland Cowboys in Townsville next week.

"That's the best thing about football - what happened last week doesn't matter," he said. "Thankfully that wasn't for two points, so we'll knuckle down, we'll get the team sorted and focus on the little things we've got to fix.

"We're focusing on round one in North Queensland ... It's going to be hot and they're going to be tough.

"They're a great side and we've got a lot of improvements to make from the trials. But no excuses, we'll go out there and give it a good crack."

The Raiders are in Queensland for the first two weeks of the season to play the Cowboys and Dolphins.

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