Woods may have stayed if Ivan had come earlier

[The_Old_Fox]

No way his going to admit the Tigers have left the door open.. They probably don't have enough, playing smart.

 

[Fade_To_Black]

Its amazing the dogs are contemplating letting another player walk who would die for them to squeeze in a 5/8 who has had a few poor years and a prop who doesnt have any passion as footy is "just a job".

At this stage of their respective careers Woods has way more upside and value in him than Graham IMO. 2 or 3 years ago it would of been a different story.

 

[Telltails]

Woods has just stated on nrl 360 that his manager has told him he will be at the Bulldogs 100% next year.

Isaac Moses is like everybody else at the moment.
He has absolutely no idea how the Bulldogs salary cap mess will end up.
Poor Woods is just peddling the BS that Moses has told him.

He didnt actually say that. He just said "we"

 

[Harvey]

I now understand why Des was so keen on Woods. Based on this he would be the best front rower in the game almost.

NRL Bulldogs: Des Hasler, Willie Mason reveals failed comeback plan after coach chat ‘did his head in’
NRL Premiership

August 19, 2017 12:06pm
by Staff writers
Source: FOX SPORTS
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WILLIE Mason said he could have finished his career with a fairytale swansong at the Bulldogs last season - if not for a mind-boggling meeting with Des Hasler.

Mason was coming off a season at Manly in 2015 and met with Hasler to discuss a contract - only to be left baffled by the embattled coach’s obsession with statistics.

“I was keen, it sounded really good on paper: Go back, play your 300th game for the club, OK, let’s talk a bit of footy,” Mason said on his Skipi TV show ‘Unfiltered’.

“I met Des in Darling Harbour and we had a coffee and started talking about football and life in general. Then he just, bang, put out this big book with stats on everything. On everything. From f***ing day dot.

“In his eyes, I don’t know if they are twisted or football has just got to him but Aiden Tolman was the best prop in the game. But to me, no disrespect to Aiden, [but] I was 35 and I’d still dust him up.

“In my eyes, I’m like, ‘No Sam Burgess [was the best], or George Burgess at that time - they were killing it. I said, ‘Do you ever go by the eye test Des and look at what he brings and what sort of emotion and physical presence, and how much drive he has on the field and how much he can get people going with him, and the leadership skills, instead of finding your front of the play the ball, tackling 45 times?’

“There’s a reason why you tackle 45 times if you’re a front-rower: Because you’re a spot player. I don’t get run at 50 times a game, because I’d hope to think that I can actually tackle all right.

“At that stage it really put me off rugby league and pretty much forced me to France. It did my head in. I was thinking, ‘I don’t know how to play football anymore. France seems so good right now’.

“The best thing Des said was go to France and enjoy the last year. I’ve got so much respect for Des, but that was the best thing he said in the entire meeting.”

Another Bulldog appearing on Unfiltered, Reni Maitua, won a Canterbury premiership alongside Mason in 2004 and returned to the club in 2014\. He did not recognise the place, accusing Hasler of completely changing the culture - an oft-repeated criticism from former Bulldogs as the coach fights to keep his job.

“The work ethic was still the same but from someone who had played 100 first grade games, plus 50 Flegg and reserve grade games there, I came back and I felt like a complete outsider,” Maitua said.

“That wasn’t because of not being accepted by the players or anything like that — the place had changed. It was just not the Bulldog culture that was bred into me.

“When I came to the club as a Souths junior, it wasn’t long before I bought into the Bulldogs environment and culture. I knew everything about every ex player. I knew what every player did throughout the 80s and the legacy they built in the 90s and into the early 2000s.

“I was lucky enough to come into a system in the ‘04 season and win the grand final but Canterbury had been building towards that.

“But when I went back in 2014, it was like I’d never played there before.”

Maitua says Hasler, who coached two premierships at Manly, will never be a real Bulldog.

“Des is a Manly person with a Bulldogs shirt on,” he said. “I don’t think they wanted to have any sort of history with the club.

“That is his vehicle to be successful as a coach to be at Canterbury but he will always be Manly. If you take him into a room and held him at gunpoint and said, ‘Who do you go for? he is going to say I’m a Manly person.”

Maitua said he believed Hasler was too smart for rugby league, as he overloaded players with complicated information.

 

[GNR4LIFE]

Des is losing the plot. He needs a break from the game. Good luck Woodsy.

 

[stryker]

It really annoys me that the current trend of analysing the game to the enth degree through statistics has become so popular. Stats dont tell even half the story. They neglect the effects on other players or the team dynamic. Mason is correct to think the game is changing for the worse. Its a very simple game that everyone is trying to complicate for some crazy reason.

 

[earl]

It really annoys me that the current trend of analysing the game to the enth degree through statistics has become so popular. Stats dont tell even half the story. They neglect the effects on other players or the team dynamic. Mason is correct to think the game is changing for the worse. Its a very simple game that everyone is trying to complicate for some crazy reason.

I think stats matter but they don't tell the whole picture. The key point is as you state stats neglect the effects on the team.

Woods is a gun when it comes to stats but I think he negatively impacts the team unless he is getting a tonne of quality off loads away. I said earlier this season that I'd like to see us play without Woods in the team. Yesterday I was hoping Woods wouldn't come back on and when he did I was dreading it.

To be fair I think Woods on reasonable dollars is a decent player but we've elevated him to our captain, a SOO and Australian player and someone who earns marquee dollars. I can't stand Tedesco or Moses but these guys can actually have a much more positive impact on the team playing well and can win games or make big plays a lot more than Woods can.

 

[Red_Rugby]

I hope for Aaron's sack that things work out at the Bulldogs….

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/wests-tigers-coach-ivan-cleary-says-theres-no-push-to-keep-aaron-woods-at-club-20170824-gy35se.html

 

[Swordy]

It really annoys me that the current trend of analysing the game to the enth degree through statistics has become so popular. Stats dont tell even half the story. They neglect the effects on other players or the team dynamic. Mason is correct to think the game is changing for the worse. Its a very simple game that everyone is trying to complicate for some crazy reason.

Could not agree more.
Run hard, tackle hard. It really is that simple.

 

[mike]

I hope for Aaron's sack that things work out at the Bulldogs….

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/wests-tigers-coach-ivan-cleary-says-theres-no-push-to-keep-aaron-woods-at-club-20170824-gy35se.html

I hope the dog never wins a comp.

 

[Elderslie_Tiger]

Ivan seemed to pour cold water on Woodsy situation smoke screen or looks like has moved on

 

[Telltails]

Ivan seemed to pour cold water on Woodsy situation smoke screen or looks like has moved on

Woods has always maintained that he will be at the Bulldogs next year and Ivan has also never suggested otherwise

 

[Cultured_Bogan]

Ivan seemed to pour cold water on Woodsy situation smoke screen or looks like has moved on

Woods has always maintained that he will be at the Bulldogs next year and Ivan has also never suggested otherwise

Yep, I reckon he's going. It was probably just a story run by a journo who'd been out on the piss all afternoon and had to submit something to fill him column before the deadline.

 

[GNR4LIFE]

Ivan seemed to pour cold water on Woodsy situation smoke screen or looks like has moved on

Woods has always maintained that he will be at the Bulldogs next year and Ivan has also never suggested otherwise

Except for a few weeks ago when he said he didn't know what was going on, which fuelled the speculation.

 

[GNR4LIFE]

He's gone. The Dogs made their choice by sacrificing Graham.