Outgoing Wests Tigers captain Aaron Woods claims the NRL club knew he would never meet a deadline to re-sign they imposed on him late last month.
Woods confirmed on Sunday he had signed a four-year deal with Canterbury, but not before he filmed a scathing assessment of the series of events that led him out of Concord.
After meeting with the manager for both Woods and fullback James Tedesco on Tuesday April 18, the Tigers announced that Thursday that the pair had until the following day to decide their future and put the matter to bed.
But Woods claimed the merged club already knew they wouldn't get a response.
"My management said I wasn't ready - I knew that for sure," Woods told Fox Sports.
"They knew where we were at but later in the week they came out and publicly said they put a deadline on us for the Friday. They knew the answer to the question."
The ongoing drama surrounding Woods, Tedesco, Mitchell Moses and Luke Brooks has engulfed the club since Jason Taylor was sacked as coach in March.
Moses is set to head to Parramatta next year after being denied a mid-season release, while Tedesco is believed to be close to signing with the Roosters.
Brooks is the only member of the so-called big four - who are all managed by Isaac Moses - to re-sign.
The situation has angered the club's fans and Woods has been jeered for the past two weeks - something he said he accepts as a matter of passion - but he is adamant the Tigers didn't offer him a contract until new coach Ivan Cleary endorsed one on March 31.
"We hadn't had any formal contracts written or nothing in front of us," Woods said.
"It was all just talk from my management to the club. People would have thought we had agreed before round one, but nothing had been said."
Woods' final season at the Tigers looks set to be hindered by a serious hamstring injury, after he was ruled out of Friday's Test after injuring it in Saturday's 22-16 loss to Cronulla.
But while he said he couldn't have seen himself playing for another club at the start of the season, he felt "let down" by Tigers' management following Taylor's sacking, and the media speculation that player power led by Woods had forced it.
"I didn't get any support," he said.
"I hadn't heard from anyone at the club for three weeks, so I did feel a little bit let down.
"I'm the captain of the club - you'd think they would at least give you a text to see how you're going."
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