- Aaron Woods brands Queensland coach Billy Slater ‘a grub’
- Mentions his infamous foul on Tigers prop John Skandalis
Former New South Wales star Aaron Woods has taken aim at Queensland coach Billy Slater, branding him a ‘grub’ while bringing up the biggest scandal of his rugby league career.
Slater named a 20-man squad for Origin II on Monday, with Cowboys star Tom Dearden replacing Daly Cherry-Evans in the No.7 jersey in Perth next Wednesday.
Woods, who played with Cherry-Evans at Manly for two seasons, unleashed a withering spray at Slater over the move.
‘To me that’s p**s poor form from Billy Slater,’ Woods said on Triple M’s Breakfast with Beau and Woodsy show.
‘After game one in your press conference you said it wasn’t about the personnel, you said you didn’t play too well.
‘You’ve come out and axed your captain Daly Cherry-Evans. You’ve said it wasn’t a scapegoat, but mate it’s a scapegoat.
Aaron Woods (pictured) has torched Queensland coach Billy Slater, branding him a ‘grub’
Slater was charged 10 times during his career, guilty on nine occasions and suspended for 13 matches
‘Everywhere you look you’re not used to getting hammered in the media. I think he did respond to backlash, the pressure and criticism got to Billy.
‘He’s lost three (games) in a row, which is unheard of for Queensland, they’re going to Perth, which is a flat track for NSW.
‘You look at this squad, Cherry-Evans should be there, I’ve heard his commentary around it that he got his chance in game one.
Woods then turned his attention to Slater’s character and the time he was suspended for a seven-matches after kicking Wests Tigers prop John Skandalis in the head.
The Queensland star was charged 10 times during his impressive 319-game career, guilty on nine occasions and suspended for 13 matches.
‘It’s so funny because you watch these blokes up north and they say we don’t get Origin and they use this pick and stick mentality. Well Billy you’ve just turned on your skipper,’ he said.
‘I want to see the real Billy Slater come out – the grub that we know of. This is a bloke who kicked John Skandalis in the head and got a six-week suspension. Everyone wants to go ‘oh he’s such a nice bloke’.
‘You’ve won your first two series’ as coach, you lost last series, you picked a side that we all thought NSW would win 13-plus – lucky NSW didn’t play well.
Woods said that it was ‘p*ss poor form’ of Slater to drop Daly Cherry-Evans
Slater pictured moments after kicking John Skandalis in the head in 2006
Woods says there’s a lot of pressure on Slater (pictured with his wife Nicole) and he’s currently not looking confident
‘If you lose this second series, does that mean you’re going to get sacked? Because Kevvie Walters got sacked after two series losses and he only coached four.
‘There’s a lot of pressure on Billy Slater. I watched his body language in the press conference and he not a man that is confident in what he’s doing at the moment.’
Woods then lashed the Maroons’ decision to avoid kicking off to NSW wrecking ball Spencer Leniu during game one, calling it a ‘soft option’.
‘Every Sunday he does the Sunday Footy Show, it’s him, Joey (Johns) and Brad Fittler,’ he said.
‘But after Origin I he got his little mate Cameron Smith to stand there and defend him.
‘The very interesting thing for me is, do they kick off to Spencer Leniu? Billy, you can say it was a tactic as much as you want, but it was a soft option and a really poor excuse from you.’
