Woods turns to ex-Tiger to roar in final

Nov 28, 2017 - 1:55 PM Kangaroos prop Aaron Woods has turned to an unlikely Wests Tigers teammate to determine whether to risk his injured shoulder against England in the Rugby League World Cup final.

Woods is set to use a painkilling injection to play at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday after aggravating a shoulder issue during last week's semi-final win over Fiji before playing on.

"I thought I popped my shoulder when I first did it so I was pretty rattled," Woods said.

"I went and saw the doc and he said, 'nah, it's just the AC (joint). Just needle it up and go out there, you won't be able to feel it'.

"That's what we did and we just got through the game. I didn't worry about it too much to be honest with you, because the doc said it can't get any worse than what it is."

Woods will again rely on local anaesthesia to take on England, but only after consulting former NRL teammate Keith Galloway, who also fought through the pain barrier.

Woods conceded he would have needed two weeks' break if it occurred during the NRL season.

"You could probably give it a couple of weeks off, but I've had it before. A bloke I played with, Keith Galloway, he's done a completely ruptured one and he played," Woods said.

"I gave Keithy a bit of a ring throughout the week just to see what he thought and he said, 'Yeah, you'd be sweet to get through'.

"If you did it mid-year you'd have to monitor it all year, whereas I'm lucky now I've only got one game where if I can just get through this game, I'll just look after it afterwards."

The Canterbury recruit recalled it was Galloway to blame when he first suffered the injury during his debut season in 2011.

Woods came off the bench that year, while Galloway started alongside Andrew Fifita.

"I did it when I was 19, just mucking around at training with Keithy as well," Woods said.

"They reckon if it's the first time you've done anything like that, it can be a lot worse. It was lucky I've done that injury once before.

"The pain was nowhere near as bad and the movement I've got at the moment's completely different to someone that's done an initial tear. I've been pretty lucky."

Source: AAP