It's a blow that Ricky Stuart's men will need to collectively lift to overcome and according to New South Wales Blues' coach Brad Fittler, the surrounding contributions need to start with Lucknow's Jack Wighton.

The former Bloomfield gun made the switch to the five-eighth role in 2019 and now, will be required to add even more to his game after the club's 2016 Player of the Year was ruled out for the remainder of the season.

"He's got some work to do," Fittler said.

"He's going to have to carry the ball more and play a bigger part in the tactics. It's a great challenge for him."

Everyone knows about Wighton's ability to run the ball and Freddy couldn't help but mention that devastating aspect of his game once more.

"His running game is outstanding... he's about the hardest bloke in the competition to tackle," he said.

"Now it's just about seeing if he can expand that five-eight role and just add to it."

Not only will Fittler be wanting the 27-year-old to take his game to the next level for Canberra's sake, he's on the look out for a number six when December's State of Origin series kicks off after James Maloney left for the English Super League at the end of last season.

While it's all well and good to forecast who might be in a Blues' jumper come the summer time, Fittler says it's too early to make an concrete assessments.

"Right now there's injuries and teams are in and out of form... there's all sorts of things going on," he said.

"There's a good chance he'll [Wighton] will be part of the squad, though... he just did so well for us last year.

"For us, it's just a matter of weighing it up and deciding where he plays and what role."