Aaron Woods has made the stunning confession he might have been swayed to stay at the Tigers had Ivan Cleary taken over the reins sooner.

In the biggest nod to Cleary's rebuild at Concord, the Australian and NSW enforcer has enjoyed his time so much under the former Warriors and Panthers boss he might have fulfilled his ambition to be a one-club player had he worked with the coach earlier.

Asked if Cleary had been appointed sooner would it have convinced him to stay at the Tigers, the Bulldogs-bound Woods said: "Probably, you know.

"There was a couple of weeks where we had no coach and I was getting hammered left, right and centre because they wanted a decision. If I got to know him a bit better you never know things might have changed, they might not have changed.