Former Wests Tigers' prop Aaron Woods could be set for a homecoming to the club he began his NRL career at.
Currently at the St George Illawarra Dragons, Woods was once part of the 'big four' at the Tigers, who were supposed to turn the club into a juggernaut.
Instead though, Woods, Mitchell Moses and James Tedesco all left the joint venture, while Luke Brooks has remained behind, but is yet to play a single finals game across his career.
Woods arrived at the Dragons at the start of the 2022 season following the completion of a stint at arch-rivals the Cronulla Sharks.
A one-year deal at the Red V was backed up by an automatic player option for the second which would kick into effect if he managed to play 18 games.
That is beginning to look unlikely however, with Woods on 13 games and needing to play five of the final seven to have the contract automatically extend.
He has been left out of Friday's Round 19 game against the Manly Sea Eagles, and would only need to miss two more games across the final six rounds to be potentially pushed out of the Dragons at the end of the season.
A former Origin and Kangaroos prop, News Corp are reporting Woods is still close to both Benji Marshall and Tim Sheens and could be set for a return home.
Intriguingly, the publication also suggests he was close to signing with the Tigers for this season, but the move was ultimately blocked by coach Michael Maguire.
It's understood the Tigers could turn to Woods as an experienced figurehead to help with what is an exceptional crop of talent coming into first-grade, led by the likes of Fonua Pole, Justin Matamua and Austin Dias who have all made their debut in recent weeks.
The club are also still weighing up the future of James Tamou, with the club captain to play his 300th game this weekend.
