An emotional Billy Slater has lashed out at former NSW forward Aaron Woods for labelling him a “grub”, insisting that while he could cope with public insults, not everybody could – referencing the late former Queensland coach Paul Green, who took his own life in 2022.
Maroons coach Slater, new captain Cameron Munster and forward Tino Fa’asuamaleaui were forced to wait on stage for ten minutes before NSW coach Laurie Daley, skipper Isaah Yeo and Nathan Cleary arrived for the open press conference on Tuesday.
Slater had clearly been stewing on comments made by Woods on radio last week, and did not hold back.
Woods had said of Slater: “I want to see the real Billy Slater come out – the grub that we know of. This is a bloke who kicked [former Tigers forward] John Skandalis in the head and got a six-week suspension.”
“Do you really want me to answer that?” Slater replied when asked about Woods’ comments. “When you hold a position in the media in our game, I feel that’s a privilege. With that privilege comes a responsibility. I sit in that position most weeks.
“You amplify your voice to millions of people. You’re not talking to your mates in the pub. I know Aaron Woods, I actually ran into him about three or four weeks ago at a footy game, and he didn’t voice that opinion then. He actually brought his son over to introduce him to me.
“I get the attention in our game. I get that. Our games creates attention. But there’s a responsibility with that attention. And when you degrade someone personally, in a derogatory manner, you probably don’t deserve one of those privileged positions that we’re all in.”
Fans started to applaud Slater before he said: “I’m not done yet. You don’t know what people are going through. Although I might be able to handle it, the next person mightn’t be. Maybe our last coach [Green] didn’t.”
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