There will be life for the Canberra Raiders after Jack Wighton, but how does it look?

"I'll say this ... Mal Meninga is Canberra's greatest ever player. He retired and the club moved on and had a successful period with life after him," Daley said on Big Sports Breakfast.

There will be life after Wighton, who is bound for Redfern to join Latrell Mitchell and the South Sydney Rabbitohs on a four-year deal worth about $1 million less than he would have pocketed in Canberra or Redcliffe.

But how that life actually looks for the Raiders is anyone's guess.

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Will Canberra spend the next four years looking through an open premiership window? Or will that window be boarded up for a club that has waited almost 30 years to reach rugby league's summit?

The Raiders have money to play with after Wighton knocked back an offer worth $1.1 million per season. Couple that with David Fifita's decision to turn down a $900,000 deal, and Canberra are playing with a $2 million war chest.

Some of that will go towards re-signing forward trio Hudson Young, Corey Horsburgh and Emre Guler. Young may soon find himself in a sky blue jumper, and who knows what you might get if you throw Big Red into the State of Origin cauldron.

But the hole Wighton leaves is in the No. 6 jersey, the one he wore on his way to winning a Dally M medal as the best player in the competition.

With a dearth of options on the open market, Canberra could look within. Twenty-two-year-old Brad Schneider, and Matt Frawley are both off contract at the end of the season.

Every club looking for a half is eventually linked to Luke Brooks, the Wests Tigers playmaker so many believe needs to split from the joint venture. Jayden Sullivan is on the outer at St George Illawarra. He withdrew a release request in the off-season but in time will be desperate for first grade opportunities.

Manly's Kaeo Weekes is a star in the making but his path to a first grade start is blocked at Brookvale. Then there is 21-year-old Lewis Dodd, who helped St Helens down Penrith to win the World Club Challenge earlier this year.

Out of favour at the Wests Tigers, Daine Laurie is reinventing himself as a five-eighth. New Zealand veteran Shaun Johnson is without a contract for 2024, so too Canterbury playmaker Kyle Flanagan and injured Sydney Roosters utility Connor Watson.

If Ricky Stuart does opt to develop Schneider, the cash is free to be spent elsewhere. Middle forward Nathan Brown will hit the open market, as will Rabbitoh Blake Taaffe.

The market for the 2024 season is pretty thin, but there are plenty of superstars who'll be testing their worth when they can negotiate from November 1. That means the Raiders would have to wait until 2025 for an arrival, but just because they have a pot of cash now doesn't mean they have to break the bank for the wrong person.

Joey Manu? Yep, he'd be worth spending a lot of money on.

Then there's Jerome Luai as another playmaker option, or Dylan Edwards as a fullback.

Tom Deardon, Chad Townsend, Ezra Mam and Matt Moylan will also be searching for deals beyond 2024.

Then there's Jai Arrow, Campbell Graham, Payne Haas, Toby Rudolph, Kurt Capewell or Jordan Riki as position players.

The problem is all come with risks and unknowns, which is why the Raiders wanted to keep Wighton.

Just look at Wayne Bennett - who will coach the Dolphins against Wighton and the Raiders in Wagga Wagga on Saturday - and his supposed struggle to lure a marquee player to Redcliffe.

Bennett and the new kids on the block were routinely dismissed because they couldn't land a big fish. Kalyn Ponga, Brandon Smith, Cameron Munster and now Wighton all nibbled the bait, but the master coach couldn't reel any of them in.

You could probably sell any Bennett press conference on pay-per-view, and this weekend's post-game show will be one to watch when the seven-time premiership-winning coach is inevitably asked about Wighton.

The Dolphins were supposed to be the competition's whipping boys in their first season. They now sit inside the top eight, having just orchestrated one of the greatest comebacks in premiership history.

Suddenly Redcliffe seems alright. Herbie Farnworth is on his way, Thomas Flegler too. Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow's deal has been stretched to five seasons.

But those players were already in Queensland by the dawn of the Dolphins.

The Raiders are tasked with bringing players to Canberra, where it's beachless, quiet, and cold. Reckon Meninga, Gary Belcher and Steve Walters would have joined the Raiders if there was a team in Queensland before they left the Brisbane competition?

Canberra hardly fits the mould of a destination club. Recent success has been built on relative unknowns from England - on these shores at least - who turn into stars like Josh Hodgson, Elliott Whitehead, John Bateman and George Williams. Some of those relationships ended on a sour note, but the Raiders made a grand final and two preliminary finals with teams bolstered by English recruits.

How long fans have to wait for the next decider remains to be seen. If the lure of a premiership is truly Wighton's main motive for leaving, you could guess he didn't see it coming in the next four years.

"The Raiders would be disappointed to lose Jack, they offered him a wonderful deal. We haven't heard from Jack yet but you'd like to know the reasons why he left. They are talking about he wants to win a premiership," Daley said.

"But if that's the case that means he's playing at a club at the moment that he doesn't believe will win the comp this year or doesn't believe will win the comp in the next four years. That mightn't go down too well with some of the players if that's the reason why he's leaving."

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