From framed pictures of his favourite heroes to quietly sneaking into Brookvale Oval as an NRL player to watch his beloved Manly Sea Eagles, Aaron Woods is now living a ‘childhood dream’
Signed this week for the rest of the 2023 season, the new Manly prop has already settled in, getting to know his new Sea Eagles team-mates in Mudgee as the side prepares for their clash against Newcastle.
At 32, Woods can’t hide his delight about joining the club he grew up supporting as a kid living in the heart of Tigers territory in Leichhardt. He even has an Eagle tattoo.
"Everyone in my family went for Balmain except me,’’ Woods recalled.
I had no idea what made me go for Manly. I just loved them.
Aaron Woods
“It was during that era of Daniel Gartner, Nik Kosef, Steve Menzies, and Cliff Lyons.
“When I was living at home with Mum, I had a framed picture of Cliffy Lyons above my computer. I just use to look at Cliffy for hours. He is one of my all-time favourite players.
“I remember waiting for hours at the back of Leichhardt Oval when Manly played Balmain there, just wanting to get an autograph or see the players.”
And as for some of his best memories of Manly games at Brookvale, 'Woodsy' just rattled them off at will.
“I was at the one when Keith Galloway got knocked out by John Hopoate. I was at the fight, the ‘Battle of Brookvale’ against the Melbourne Storm,’’ Woods said, fondly.
“Even in my first couple of years of playing NRL for Wests Tigers, I often went to Brookie to watch Manly play. I started getting recognised a bit and it looked sussed, so I had to stay away.
“It wasn’t a good look in the end (laughs).”
Another ‘pinch myself’ moment for Woods occurred when he was roomed with Manly forward Anthony Watmough for his first Origin match for NSW in 2013.
“It was like a dream come true,’’ Woods said.
“Honestly, I was that nervous. 'Choc' was a guy that I looked up to as a kid. I had a Manly jersey and he signed it.’”
And then there was the time when Woods and Galloway as Wests Tigers team-mates attended a country race meeting in Scone.
“It was a promotion with Men of League and the guy we did it with was Nik Kosef. Unbelievable,’’ Woods said, with a huge smile.
“I reckon I bored him to death. I must have asked him a thousand questions all day about Manly.”
It seems fate that Woods would eventually end up at the Sea Eagles.
He may have taken a few detours along the way at the Tigers, Canterbury, Cronulla, and St George-Illawarra, but the former NSW and Australian prop with 252 games of NRL experience never gave up hope of fulfilling that dream of playing for the Sea Eagles.
“My mum showed me an old primary school book last year. It had one of those things that asked me where I wanted to be when I was older and what job I wanted to do,'' Woods .
“I wrote down that I wanted to play NRL for the Sea Eagles. At that time, they were the Northern Eagles.
“To now be able to live out this childhood dream at Manly is just unbelievable. I get goosebumps thinking about it.
“It’s funny. Every time I've been off contract, I have been pretty much linked to Manly.
"And now I’m here in the Sea Eagles colours finally, it's amazing.
"I want to have a really good crack here for Manly, whether it is my last year of NRL or not. I don't want to leave any stone unturned."
