‘Don’t mention my son’s name again’: Aaron Woods fires shots after being labelled a ‘coward’

Aaron Woods has broken his silence on the explosive Origin feud that began with a chance elevator encounter during Magic Round.

Former NSW Blues forward Aaron Woods has fired back at his Origin critics, weeks after his comments on Billy Slater sparked one of the most iconic State of Origin feuds.

The Triple M host was the latest guest on Paul Kent’s podcast Kenty Primetime where he revealed he later spoke to Slater’s former teammate Ryan Hoffman.

Hoffman labelled Woods a “coward” on the ABC for calling Queensland coach Slater a “grub” before Game 2 of the series this year.

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“Ryan Hoffman came out and called me a coward, and then he back flipped and said he didn’t,” Wood’s explained.

“We had a conversation. I said, ‘look you can call me whatever you want, just don’t ever mention my son’s name again with things that didn’t happen’, because Buster didn’t get a photo with Billy.”

Hoffman’s comments were centred on claims Woods had asked Slater to take a photo with his son Buster earlier in the season before he later slammed the Origin coach to create an Origin narrative.

The claim originally came from former Origin forward and NRL360 host Gorden Tallis who took aim at Woods labelling Slater a grub ahead of Game 2.

But Woods has now clarified the situation with the alleged photo, which occurred at Magic Round while commentating for Triple M.

Woods called Slater a ‘grub’ ahead of Origin 2 which sparked outrage in Queensland.

Slater had the last laugh winning the Origin series. Photo – Cameron Spencer/Getty Images.

“We’re up at the top boxes of Suncorp Stadium, I was going to take my little fella downstairs, Buster, because he was going to be a ball boy for the 3 o’clock game on the Saturday arvo which was Newcastle v Souths,” Woods said.

“As I was going down the lift, we were right at the back, everyone jumped in, then we get down to I think level 3, that’s where the Channel 9 and Fox boxes are.

“Billy Slater rocks in with his producer from Channel 9. We go downstairs, everyone gets out, Billy’s there at the front, I literally walk out, I walk past, I shake his hand, ‘hey Bill’, I say to Buster to shake his hand.

“Once he shakes his hand we walk away, Buster goes ‘who’s that Dad?’

“I go ‘mate, he’s one of the best fullbacks to ever play the game’. My young bloke is only five. And that is all that happened.

“So from that, there’s only three people that would’ve said something to Gordy about that. So someone’s dropped the lip and had a little complaint, wasn’t too happy.”

Woods’ gripes came after Ryan Hoffman labelled him a coward. Photo: AAP Image/Julian Smith.

The entire ordeal looked to become a major talking point among league fans as Queensland rallied after the saga to come back and win the next two games and take the series shield back from NSW.

The story blew up particularly with Slater’s response in which he suggested Woods was unaware of the mental health concerns his words could have on people, controversially referencing late Maroons coach Paul Green, who suffered from CTE.

It left Woods admitting he felt partially responsible for the whole situation.

“A little bit. I was so confident because Game 1 I don’t even think NSW played well,” he said.

“To win up at Suncorp, to be up there in enemy territory and the way they played, I would’ve thought we’d go to Perth quite excited.

“You go over there and then the performance in that first half, I was just like ‘oh my God, far out, what have I done here?’ Just really stirred the pot.”

Originally published as ‘Don’t mention my son’s name again’: Aaron Woods fires shots after being labelled a ‘coward’