Aaron Woods

[Jay Eagle]

He's living our dream.. what would you give to run out onto Brookvale Oval wearing the mighty maroon and white stripes in front of 14000 fans and get a win in the NRL.. good on him

 

[Remy]

Now let's keep it real here, without that near try, he was quite poor, would bring keppie back in for him. Keppie, Sipley, Bully bench is full of agression and mongrel.

 

[maxta]

I thought Woods went ok....but in a fast game at times looked sluggish and that lost ball on 2nd carry could have cost us big time.
Maybe bought more to the players than any of us know as he is experienced and played every rep level.
Personally would go for Keppie, who will be stinging after being dropped and simply has more youthful zest and mobility in his game and I reckon his best is yet to come.
In saying that, Woods does add to the squad imo and his effect is a positive 1 and a Massive congrats on being on the big arena to take down those Storm grubs.

 

[hozza]

I thought he went ok, was probably just a bit too excited. I’d have him in the 17 again next week. No doubt brings experience to the group.

Leave Keppie stewing for another week, really fire him up. Competition for places on the team is always a good thing..

 

[mickqld]

Congrats to Woodsie. He got to live out his dream and should've had the try as well. He's a stop gap though and I don't see him being there long term this year. But I also have my doubts on Keppie as well. Toff certainly cemented his recall though.

 

[Uber Eagle 72]

He did just ok imo. Likely technically no better than Morgan Boyle would have but his enthusiasm was infectious and the other senior players seemed happy having him out there. We need this kind of energy every week.

 

[manlyfan76]

Bull **** call on his strip of Jarome. Surely a loose carry, storm going backwards at a rate of Knotts no control and looming to get to the kick under massive pressure.

 

[hozza]

Bull **** call on his strip of Jarome. Surely a loose carry, storm going backwards at a rate of Knotts no control and looming to get to the kick under massive pressure.

Was an atrocious call!!! No way was that a strip

 

[NREagle]

I said in another thread he looked at bit rusty.
He also looked like he was enjoying himself - bet he's not missing St George!
Think it was Woods who told Jake to challenge his supposed knock on near the Melbourne line. Good call.

 

[NREagle]

This is from his Insta stories...

 

[Rafferty]

Was an atrocious call!!! No way was that a strip

It was one on one at that stage anyway and I thought it was Hughes who pushed the ball forward anyway, doesn’t matter now, but I agree atrocious….

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

Some of you are such hard markers , first game , no pre season training , probably one training run , nervous no doubt , drops a ball ( yes an error but guess what so did our million dollar fullback ) , doesn’t perform like the top prop in the game and you want to shaft him straight way.

Most of you have pre determined he’s crap , and wouldn’t matter what he did you’d hate him.

Good on him for last night, wasn’t a 5 star performance, but he did the job he was asked to do.

 

[Tragic Eagle]

The video ref was looking very hard for reasons to disallow both of those tries. Melbourne we assisted by those decisions and kept in the game for longer than they deserved.

 

[Vyssini]

This is from his Insta stories...

View attachment 23601

I'm not ashamed to say that this brought a tear to an old fart's eye. Mate, wouldn't we all love to have been in his boots last night.
Aaron Woods, I salute you.







(PS: Next week is a different story...)

 

[manly al]

Was surprised that Arron was given the nod ahead of Keppie but can only assume that the coaching staff had enough valid reasons for it . Never had that tearaway type of play [ Woods ] but quite deceptively seems to make good and consistent yardage and effective enough in mid field defence . Experience no doubt a not inconsiderable factor as well . Toff has to be in the mix somewhere and Bullemor still doing good . Still rate Keppie regardless just have to see how it pans out over time and with the competitive nature of the comp at present , going to need some necessary level of depth , especially in the pack . Reckon that Samual Fainu still has something really worthwhile to offer in Manly i st grade when he will finally get a shot

 

[ricardo]

Instant hero with the blokes I was around on the hill .... try on debut and a hit that shook the grandstand, wow what a legend!

 

[mutley]

I thought he went ok i would play him again next week too, thought sipley had earned his chance at least 2 to 3 weeks ago for blacktown so wont hurt keppie to match that level of enthusiasm and intensity and win his spot back

 

[Bearfax]

First game in firsts for Manly. Give him time.

 

[Alfreddo]

I think he will settle in nicely once he fully gels with the team. I think he deserves the opportunity to prove himself off the bench over the next couple of weeks vs the Tigers and Titans. Then we will know if he is fully up to it for our huge game vs the Broncos in 3 weeks time.

 

[LeonardCohen]

After a great win, it's easy to stand in defence of Aaron Woods, but he is not going to be good enough against top sides later in the year. He should plug an injury hole and nothing more. His stint last night was bog average.

Watching Souths, they have Moale and Suluka-Fafita coming off the bench; young tearaways with leg speed. They look like serious footballers and then we have a plodder like Woods come off the bench. In games where one team turns up and the other doesn't, you can get away with the type of stint that Woods gave last night. At Allianz, in September, you sadly won't.