'Aaron Woods was a coward': Blues great goes to town on former Origin teammate over Slater feud

A former State of Origin teammate of Aaron Woods has blasted the "coward" former Blues prop for "crossing a line" in his war of words with Queensland coach Billy Slater.

Ryan Hoffman - who played 14 Origins for New South Wales and also spent years at Melbourne alongside Slater - went to town on his one-time teammate in a passionate rebuke on ABC's Offsiders program on Sunday.

Hoffman and Woods played side by side in the 2013, 2014, and 2015 series but the former has no time for the latter after he labelled Slater a "grub" on radio a fortnight ago.

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Woods' broadside at the Maroons coach was followed by an emotional return serve from Slater last week, although he was later forced to apologise for referencing the death of Paul Green in his press conference.

Hoffman is well and truly on Slater's side.

"Aaron Woods crossed the line," Hoffman said on Offsiders.

"If he wanted to come out and make a point about Billy Slater's tactics, about Slater's selections, that is fair enough.

"But to just purposely call someone a grub, to degrade someone like that, someone that (Woods) knows, someone he actually made sure that his son got to meet and have a photo with... to say that for the benefit of providing spice for Origin, that is rubbish.

"Media around Origin time is absolutely horrific. Both states are guilty of it, both states just throw things in the headline because they need to create this artificial spice.

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"There was enough to talk about in these games without having to throw ridiculous comments... media around Origin needs to be better.

"All you're doing is allowing other people to say those comments in the name of banter - but where do you draw the line? Is it calling someone a grub, is it worse? Is it making sexist, racist comments about people, is that allowed?

"Throwing those ridiculous comments out gives people more avenue to be able to say what they want to whoever they want without any repercussions.

"Aaron Woods was a coward for standing behind a microphone and throwing that out there. Billy Slater showed courage... he made a mistake and then apologised to the Green family, but he fronted up every single time."

Following Woods' initial Slater clip on Triple M radio, Hoffman took to Instagram to voice his disgust.

"I get it. It's Origin and being a Blue we hate Qld but this is a rubbish take by Woodsy," Hoffman posted.

"Bringing up an incident from five years before Woodsy even debuted in the NRL is ridiculous. If Woodsy wants to make a name for himself in the media by making idiotic comments, it's going to be sad media career.

"Bill has cultivated respect and admiration in the media without ever calling someone a grub or questioning their character. As a former player he should know better."

Hoffman won the 2012 NRL premiership alongside Slater at the Storm.

He played 325 NRL games across Melbourne and the Warriors before retiring in 2018.