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It started with his hair. I started to pay particular attention to Aaron Woods in Game 3 of State of Origin and I noticed something wasn’t right.
So I re-watched Game 3 (the decider, when players should be at their best) with a notepad and pen, here’s what I found.
Woods conceded four penalties by himself and was lazy or belligerent the rest of the time.
At 7:48, Woods was penalised for lying on the tackled player (perhaps unlucky). Less than three minutes later (11:21) he was again penalised for lying on the tackled player.
A further minute passed before Woods hit Johnathan Thurston slightly late (12:46) but no penalty was awarded. On 16:56 Woods attempted an arm tackle on Aiden Guerra but was shoved away and fell flat on his back.
Seconds after, Woods failed to mark up and is clearly next to the actual marker. He was in an offside position and very lucky not to be penalised. On 24:55 Woods was again penalised for being offside when Cooper Cronk threw the ball into him from dummy half.
The performance continued in the second half with NSW penalised after James Tamou and (mainly) Woods holding up Greg Inglis.
Finally, in the back play on 73:57, well after the pass, Woods throws Thurston to the ground by his jersey not as part of a tackle. A squabble ensues. No penalty.
Now to be fair, I noticed Woods wasn’t a ball hog and is happy to pass the ball. He had many standard runs and tackles, although none seemed determined nor aggressive like some of David Klemmer’s. Woods also didn’t miss any tackles that led to tries, those were all conceded by the NSW back line.
However, I counted at least seven times when he flopped in on the tackle as the third man which struck me as lazy. I also noted that usually he could be seen walking slowly – not even briskly.
Lastly, I noticed he never produces hurtful tackles – he is an upright grabber. He rarely puts a hard shoulder into a tackle. Anyway, I googled Aaron Woods and found this June news item calling out Woods for lazy defence.
But, amazingly, people say he is Dally M material.
Folks, I’m going back to re-watch Game 1. Clearly Woods has the physical tools to be a great prop, but from my first ever forensic look at the bloke I was gobsmacked by his laziness and lack of controlled aggression.
Hey Aaron, get a haircut and start YouTubing ‘Nathan Hindmarsh’, please!
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