'It's terrible': Raiders player lashes team's Indigenous jersey

The NRL will this weekend celebrate Australia's Indigenous culture, with each team set to play in specially designed jerseys.

One man who is less than impressed with his team's strip for Indigenous round, however, is Canberra's Jack Wighton.

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The Raiders star, who is the only Indigenous Australian to play for his club, slammed designers of the jersey for what he described as a "lazy" effort.

“I’m a little bit disappointed how the club went about the jersey … I feel like we just ticked a box, no one got any input,” Wighton told Nine newspapers.

“We’ve got a lot of First Nations people of all different types – Samoans and Maoris and that, you know – and no one really had any say about the jersey.

Whereas some teams have Indigenous patterns plastered right across their jerseys, Canberra's design is limited to the sleeves and sides, with the front and back unchanged.

“I think you can tell (there was no player input). We had a whole canvas and they just put a little design on the sleeve. We didn’t hear nothing about it until this week. No one came to us for any ideas.

“In previous years we’ve had a lot to do with it and the club has run things past us but I felt like they got lazy this year.”

Wighton says the club has missed a trick in properly celebrating the Indigenous culture that he's so proud of.

“It’s terrible. I’m filthy. It’s the one round to share culture, you know what I mean, to get our artwork and stories out there, and I feel like we’ve put a pretty poor effort in, if I’m to be honest.”

Wighton is a relative of South Sydney superstar Latrell Mitchell, whose Rabbitohs go into Indigenous round with an impressive record to protect.

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Souths have won eight of their nine Indigenous round games, with Mitchell viewed as the team's inspirational figurehead.

NSW five-eighth Cody Walker outlined why the week was so important to the Rabbitohs, which may spell bad news for St George Illawarra at Jubilee Stadium on Thursday.

"It's hard to explain. It's just one of those games where you know you're going to be up for it," he said.

"We have a great representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait players in the side and also in the community. You don't need any extra motivation."

The team will wear a jersey designed by Walker's uncle Joe Walker, which will add a spring to the step of the playmaker, who believes he has been off his game in successive losses to Newcastle and Canberra.

The return from suspension of match-winning fullback Mitchell will also be a major fillip for the 10th-placed team and their supporters.

Walker remembers nine-season Souths legend Inglis was an inspirational figurehead for many in the Indigenous community.

He believes Mitchell has taken up that post just half way through his first campaign with the Bunnies.

"They're pretty similar to be fair. You go to a lot of Aboriginal communities in NSW and Queensland, the No.1 name on their lips is Latrell Mitchell.

"Obviously when Greg was playing, he was a huge figure in our game. Latrell's sort of taken that on.

"I'm just lucky that I've played inside both of them."

Walker believes his club's station as a beacon for Indigenous supporters played a part in attracting Mitchell from the premiership-winning Sydney Roosters, along with his close friendship with centre James Roberts.

"He understood the people that were here. Some great players here have been Aboriginal, some leaders of our time.

"He's put a lot of work in over the last couple of weeks. It's a great boost for us to get him back in the circumstances that we're in at the moment."

with AAP