Ennis slams Woods' impact at the Bulldogs

Premiership-winning hooker Michael Ennis has savaged the impact of Aaron Woods at the Bulldogs.

Despite demanding a roughly $800,000 per year salary, and playing in a pack that was tasked with bringing back the 'Dogs of War' mentality, Woods has so far failed to fire.

Meanwhile, the man who he pushed out of Belmore, James Graham, has been on fire for the Dragons, boosting the side with his passion and aggression.

“(Graham) has been the heart and soul (of the Dragons). Paul McGregor has been treasuring what James Graham has brought to that club," Ennis told Fox Sports.

“Aaron Woods, there is so much focus on Woods being a front-rower.

“We know what we get from David Klemmer. He’s aggressive, he welcomes the contact, he takes personal battles against opposition front-rowers.

“Aaron Woods stepping into Graham’s shoes, in the opening two rounds, and it’s only been two rounds, let’s not go too hard, he’s been a shadow of what James Graham has done at the Dragons.

“For me, Aaron Woods at the moment is just knocking out his numbers, but in terms of really leading this Canterbury-Bankstown forward pack, I haven’t seen that yet.”

Those numbers have been solid, with Woods averaging 58 minutes, 13.5 runs and 27 tackles across two games.

But so much of what great front-rowers do is not measured on the stat sheet.

When the Bulldogs vowed to bring back the 'Dogs of War', they were saying they wanted their pack to be feared.

After two weeks, their middle forwards have instead been targeted, rather than avoided.

“When your coach comes out over the summer and says ‘I want the Dogs of War back’ ... Dean Pay was one of the household names at Canterbury for his toughness, and he wants to resemble that in his football side," Ennis said.

“I haven’t seen that from Aaron Woods yet, I haven’t seen that in the opening two rounds.

“I want to see him get down and dirty, I want to see him get personal."

Woods will be given the chance to show Bulldogs fans the intimidation factor he can bring on Friday night, as his side take on the Panthers at ANZ Stadium.

Against the likes of Reagan Campbell-Gillard and James Tamou, Woods could instantly shut up his critics with a dominant display in the blue and white colours.

Meanwhile, Woods has urged his teammates to be mentally tougher as they seek to turnaround their winless start to the NRL season.

Rookie coach Dean Pay was left frustrated after watching his team concede 30 points for the second consecutive week in Friday's loss to Sydney Roosters.

Woods says the team needs to find a way to stop the bleeding during games.

"We've got to be a bit more mentally tougher with things that we do," Woods said on Monday.

"We had (the Roosters) under the pump for a fair bit, we were going set for set and just to let a soft try in, you just think, 'How are we back in this situation?'

"As a group we've got to be tougher and find our way out of those sorts of situations and I think we've got to have plans in place for things when those things do happen."

With AAP