NRL news: St George Illawarra Dragons vs Gold Coast Titans, Aaron Woods 250th NRL game

Veteran prop Aaron Woods has opened up on his rugby league obsession and his advice for today’s players as he prepares to play his 250th NRL game.

Aaron Woods will play his 250th NRL game this weekend. Picture: Mark Nolan/Getty Images

Sarah Woods learned a long time ago not to make dinner reservations on Saturday nights. Not during the footy season anyway.

“My missus gets the pips,” St George Illawarra prop Aaron Woods said ahead of his 250th game on Sunday afternoon.

“She wants to go out on the weekend and I say I am not going anywhere from midday to 9.30pm. If she does double book something, I get filthy and she knows that.

“I watch very game whether it is first grade, reserve grade, 20s. I watch everything. I tape all the Super League games.

“I watch school footy. We back onto a park where I live and I take the little fella down there and watch the local team.”

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Aaron Woods will play his 250th NRL game this weekend. Picture: Mark Nolan/Getty Images

Woods is a throwback to an era when rugby league players were consumed by the game. He made his debut at the Wests Tigers more than a decade ago on a Monday night against Canterbury, biding his time impatiently on the interchange bench before running onto the field and into the teeth of the Bulldogs pack.

He was greeted on that his first hit-up by Andrew Ryan and Corey Payne. It wasn’t a big hit, but Woods remembers thinking, ‘yep, this is first grade’.

He has been there ever since, his only reserve grade game since coming this year was he was briefly dropped by Dragons coach Anthony Griffin.

“One thing Hook (Griffin) always says is you have to drop your ego,” Woods said.

“When the Dragons signed me I knew I wouldn’t be playing every week. I was a senior signing to help the kids prepare and see what it is like to be a rugby league player.

“So many kids have so much potential but you have to work hard on your game, everything. A lot of people give it to me because I don’t score a thousand tries or pull off big hits.

“But my job is to tighten up the ruck and get quick play-the-balls for my halves. I have a footy brain so that helps me on the field.

“I know I am not the biggest, not the smartest, not the quickest, but I always try to use my brain. I always try to find blokes turning their hips, the way they are facing, movements in the game.

“I like to play pre-line, through the line. I have different parts to my game. I have always worked hard.”

His work ethic and desire come from a deeply personal place.

“You have to want it,” Woods said.

Aaron Woods enjoys working with the younger forwards.

“No disrespect to my mum, we didn’t get everything when we were young. You had to work for it. I got knocked back for teams when I was young.

“It is good when that happens because it builds resilience in you. I wasn’t the biggest kid. Some of those coaches were just looking for the big kid who just ran over everyone. I have always worked hard.

“That is why I watch every game. I like watching what other teams do. I try to work out defensive systems and patterns, how they defend and how they attack.

“I love doing it.”

Woods plans to continue playing next year. There have been difficult days, most notably his departure from the Bulldogs, but he has always loved the game. That has never changed as he prepares to face the Gold Coast on Sunday afternoon.

“You get frustrated at times when things aren’t going your way but that’s part and parcel of the game,” Woods said. “I love it. I am a massive rugby league fan.”