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AARON WOODS DELIVERS IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE
By Wayne Cousins
20/07/2011 2:35:22 PM
He is the Balmain junior loving every minute of being a Wests Tigers player.
Aaron Woods lives and breathes rugby league. More importantly, he bleeds for his beloved Tigers.
A giant of a lad, ‘Woodsy’ is one of the young fresh faces making at impact in the Wests Tigers jersey after rising through the ranks of the Balmain junior rugby league.
The 20-year-old, who when he first arrived for full-time training with the Wests Tigers NRL squad, smartly hooked himself onto experienced prop Todd Payten so he could learn the right way of becoming a professional rugby league player.
In Payten, he found a willing mentor, especially when Woods suffered a cruel run of hamstring injuries that sidelined him for the majority of last year.
It came at a bad time too as Woods was looking to take the next step up after being a cornerstone of the Wests Tigers pack that made the U20s grand final in 2009.
Now with 15 NRL games behind him, opposition teams are starting to realise why Wests Tigers were always keen on Woods.
“Front-rowers develop late and Aaron had plenty of big wraps on him early on,’’ Payten said.
“I told him to take it easy in terms of his hamstring. To his credit, he worked very hard in the gym to build himself up. Aaron talks the talk but he backs it up.”
Wests Tigers Head Coach Tim Sheens has slowly nurtured Woods. Young props that make an impact early in the NRL are quickly portrayed as one of the game’s next big things.
Sheens had seen it too many times before. Like a proud, protective father, he keeps a close eye on his young chargers.
It is one of the reasons why Woods, despite strong demand from the media to ‘tell his story’, had not spoken to the press until today. It was a decision Woods supported all the way, politely declining media interviews until ‘he felt ready’.
After watching experienced NSW prop Keith Galloway speak to the media, Woods stepped up. And like he has done all season, he again delivered, answering questions about his form to how good it was for the team to beat the Cowboys to win their first game after a horrid month.
“It was pretty frustrating. The effort was always there but it was just our execution. We were not building pressure. We knew it would take time but hopefully we got over that hump last week and are back on track,’’ Woods said. Spoken like a true pro.
“Sometimes we get behind on the scoreboard, we get a little bit frustrated and we throw the ball around too much and the passes don’t stick so it doesn’t look too good.
“We just did the little things right, the 1 per centers, and we came through.”
As the questions kept coming, so did the friendly jibes from more hardened team-mates passing by. Cries of ‘Woodsy, you are doing too much media’ were common. He just laughed.
Aaron Woods has arrived, on and off the field.
By Wayne Cousins
20/07/2011 2:35:22 PM
He is the Balmain junior loving every minute of being a Wests Tigers player.
Aaron Woods lives and breathes rugby league. More importantly, he bleeds for his beloved Tigers.
A giant of a lad, ‘Woodsy’ is one of the young fresh faces making at impact in the Wests Tigers jersey after rising through the ranks of the Balmain junior rugby league.
The 20-year-old, who when he first arrived for full-time training with the Wests Tigers NRL squad, smartly hooked himself onto experienced prop Todd Payten so he could learn the right way of becoming a professional rugby league player.
In Payten, he found a willing mentor, especially when Woods suffered a cruel run of hamstring injuries that sidelined him for the majority of last year.
It came at a bad time too as Woods was looking to take the next step up after being a cornerstone of the Wests Tigers pack that made the U20s grand final in 2009.
Now with 15 NRL games behind him, opposition teams are starting to realise why Wests Tigers were always keen on Woods.
“Front-rowers develop late and Aaron had plenty of big wraps on him early on,’’ Payten said.
“I told him to take it easy in terms of his hamstring. To his credit, he worked very hard in the gym to build himself up. Aaron talks the talk but he backs it up.”
Wests Tigers Head Coach Tim Sheens has slowly nurtured Woods. Young props that make an impact early in the NRL are quickly portrayed as one of the game’s next big things.
Sheens had seen it too many times before. Like a proud, protective father, he keeps a close eye on his young chargers.
It is one of the reasons why Woods, despite strong demand from the media to ‘tell his story’, had not spoken to the press until today. It was a decision Woods supported all the way, politely declining media interviews until ‘he felt ready’.
After watching experienced NSW prop Keith Galloway speak to the media, Woods stepped up. And like he has done all season, he again delivered, answering questions about his form to how good it was for the team to beat the Cowboys to win their first game after a horrid month.
“It was pretty frustrating. The effort was always there but it was just our execution. We were not building pressure. We knew it would take time but hopefully we got over that hump last week and are back on track,’’ Woods said. Spoken like a true pro.
“Sometimes we get behind on the scoreboard, we get a little bit frustrated and we throw the ball around too much and the passes don’t stick so it doesn’t look too good.
“We just did the little things right, the 1 per centers, and we came through.”
As the questions kept coming, so did the friendly jibes from more hardened team-mates passing by. Cries of ‘Woodsy, you are doing too much media’ were common. He just laughed.
Aaron Woods has arrived, on and off the field.
