Ex-Dragon Aaron Woods has leapt to the defence of his out-of-sorts former teammate Zac Lomax, stressing that head coach Anthony Griffin's methods left plenty to be desired when it came to dropping players.
Lomax, 23, was sensationally dropped from the Dragons' squad to face Wests during Magic Round, a fixture the Red V would fluff in the River City, going down 18 points to 16.
While slated as one of St George Illawarra's brightest young prospects, Lomax has failed to light it up in 2023, scoring just two tries from centre in his eight starts and only breaking the line twice.
Yet, despite the lull in form, Lomax remains locked away for the future, with the joint venture committed to paying the Temora-native $2.8 million between the start of 2023 and the cessation of 2026.
A Dragon himself from the start of 2022 and Round 4 of this season, Woods is more than familiar with both Lomax's abilities and the alleged shortcomings of Griffin's methodology.
And during his most recent stint on Triple M radio, the 14-time Origin representative took aim at Griffin, claiming that Dragons players were often left at a loss as to when, why, and how they had missed out on first-grade selection.
"You need to be told straight away what you've done wrong," Woods began.
"I've had conversations with 'Hook' (Griffin) before. I've got dropped on Captain's run. Walking out to Captain's run, he just said, 'Mate, we're going for a different way this week', and that's it.
"You walk away and you get a bit, 'Oh, really? What have I got to do to get back into the team?' And because he's told me so late, it's like, 'Oh, okay. I don't know what I need to work on at training.'"
His own unsquashed beef aside, Woods went on to throw his arm around Lomax, claiming Griffin's communication methods were unlikely to work wonders for the 23-year-old.
"For someone like Zac, especially being a younger kid, they can dwell and then it can carry on. The whole four days ... he could be just stewing on that all week," Woods added.
"But if he knew what he had to work on, he could go (and) practice. He might want to come back in and go, 'No, look, I need to practice carrying the ball, or working on my edge defence.'
"He needs to be told straight away. Once you walk out of that room, and you're confused, it's not going to help anyone."
Has Anthony Griffin let Zac Lomax down? pic.twitter.com/TqTQB8JyT0
— Triple M NRL (@TripleM_NRL) May 6, 2023
With the league world converging on Brisbane for Magic Round, Lomax was unable to feature in lower grades - a fact that Woods held up as being completely counterproductive.
"He's not even playing reserve grade this week, so how's he going to go an benefit and become a better player? He can't do anything. He's just got time off now," the Manly forward said in conclusion.
After 10 weeks of action, the Dragons sit second to bottom on the ladder with a 2-7 record. And after dropping their bundle against the Tigers on Sunday, St George Illawarra are just 43 points in differential above Wests.
Without a win since April Fool's Day - a 38-12 triumph over the newly-minted Dolphins - the Dragons will next travel to Townsville to face the Cowboys next Saturday evening.
