In the Spotlight - Round 19

Hola, señors and senoritas!

After another short hiatus, In The Spotlight is back, with bells* on!

*Zero bells.

How about that Origin decider, eh?

You would have thought the Maroons would have at least bought the Blues a drink first before unloading on them like they did. Fifty-two points in a deciding game three, with only one of the previous six matches decided by any more than eight points.

Like a wounded, cornered tiger (no Robbie Farah references here) up against a small child carrying 15 kilograms of raw, fresh meat, the result was savage. Not sure why the child was carrying so much meat though, maybe his parents sent him down to the supermarket to stock up for a BBBQ (the extra B's a typo). And why didn't he at least have it in some shopping bags, or some of those handy insulated bags?

Anyway, I digress.

This week will play a key role in starting to work out which sides are top eight bound, and which ones should book their Bali trips. Do players still go to Bali? Maybe the states, Las Vegas perhaps? I digress again.

Two poor players face the untold, unrelenting pressure of being in the spotlight this week. In the words of that bloke from those awesome Taken movies (well, the first one was good anyway)… "good luck."

Jack Wighton

The Canberra Raiders might be about to embark on one of their famous late-season runs again in 2015, and one player pivotal to their top eight chances is Jack "trampoline" Wighton. The rangy fullback has the ability to break open games with his tackle-busting ability, and the Green Machine will be hoping he can do some serious busting in their side's quite winnable series of games in their run home.

Feleti Mateo

Universally recognised as the only bloke in the history of mankind to sh*t diamonds once every six weeks or so, Mateo is as inconsistent as they come. One week he'll be unstoppable, going to the line, putting players into gaps, throwing outrageously good offloads and smashing his way through attempted tackles himself. When he's off, however, let's just say his offloading ability errs on the side of brainless. Manly looked shot six weeks ago, and the top eight may still yet be a bridge too far, but they will continue to cause some upsets in the closing rounds and big Feleti's form will be a crucial indicator of just how many apple carts the boys from Brooky can up-end.

See ya round like a rissole.