Zac Woolford reckons it would have killed him.
But the 26-year-old was content to hang the boots up to “shovel shit”, trading rugby league for early mornings at the Randwick stables working under Peter and Paul Snowden.
It was only a few months ago Woolford was coming off the bench for the Newtown Jets in NSW Cup games at Henson Park. Now he finds himself on the cusp of an NRL elimination final against the best hooker in rugby league.
A second lease on a dream means Woolford will start at hooker for Canberra against Harry Grant and Melbourne at AAMI Park on Saturday. Some turnaround from reserve grade and 4am starts at Randwick.
“I was resigned to the fact this was going to be my last year of rugby league,” Woolford said.
“The work I was doing at Randwick with Peter Snowden and his son Paul, I was really enjoying it and looking to go into that full-time. I just wanted a little bit of closure. I was going to try and win the comp with Newtown and then I was going to hang them up.
Zac Woolford has emerged as an unlikely hero in Canberra’s rise.Credit:Getty
“It would have killed me but it was just getting in the way of me progressing in other aspects of life. I wanted to start forging a career doing something else. When you’re playing Cup, it’s a big time commitment and it gets in the way of other things.
“I was just getting frustrated that I wasn’t going anywhere and I was constantly in the same spot every year. It wouldn’t have been easy because I’m a proper footy head, I watch all the footy, so it was just something I was going to have to do.
“I was just a stable hand, going to race days, strapping, everything to do with the day-to-day care of a racehorse. I started at the bottom. Day one you’ve got to shovel shit, by the end of it I was running wash bays and going to the races and all that sort of thing. I would have definitely liked to have gone further into it if I wasn’t playing footy.”
Only now he is.
Woolford went with the Snowdens’ blessing, even if they are a long-suffering pair of St George Illawarra tragics “always looking forward to next year after about round five or six”.
“He’s a good young lad. He’s got massive enthusiasm for horse racing. They’re his two passions, racing and rugby league,” Paul Snowden said.
“He gels with anyone, he gets in and gets the job done. Watching him play, he certainly resembles those attributes when he’s on the field. He’s kick off at 4am, go through until 9am, start back at 2pm and then finish at 4.30pm. He worked his training around there.”
The work ethic paid off when the Raiders were hunting for a hooker after Josh Hodgson’s last season in Canberra ended in little more than six minutes. Coach Ricky Stuart needed someone to complement the spark of Tom Starling.
With a good word from Brett White, Stuart found it in a Canberra junior. Woolford’s dad Simon is a Raiders great, having played 234 games for the club before rounding out his career with a two-year stint at St George Illawarra.
A two-week train and trial deal led to a shock debut in Brisbane on one days’ notice, and what followed was enough to earn Woolford a two-year deal to remain in Canberra.
His mark of eight try assists in 15 games is one better than North Queensland’s Reece Robson [seven in 24 games], one short of Cronulla’s Blayke Brailey [nine in 24 games] and four short of Penrith hooker Api Koroisau [12 in 20 games]. Now he is relishing the chance to end the season of a club he once supported.
“If you had have told me you’d give me one NRL game, I would have taken it,” Woolford said.
“I just didn’t think it would be possible, what was going to unfold. I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I’m really looking forward to hopefully kicking on.”
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