Lay off Woody, says Magpie

COLLINGWOOD defender Jeremy Howe has slammed the treatment runner Alex Woodward has copped on social media, saying the Magpies will wrap their arms around the shattered team official.

Woodward, pictured right, was delivering a message when he ended up in the way of young Pie Jaidyn Stephenson, who was the target of a Taylor Adams kick that ended up in the hands of Eagle Elliot Yeo who kicked a crucial goal.

Woodward was in tears after the game, with coach Nathan Buckley adamant that he should not blame himself, and Howe has backed the runner who he said had received unfair criticism in the wake of Collingwood’s loss.

“He was pretty emotional after the game, but to be honest he got ... I don’t know if I should say it, but social media is an absolute nightmare of a system, because it ridicules people when they shouldn’t be,” he said. “Woody’s one of the nicest, polite, genuine, loving guys I’ve ever met. And to see him that distraught after the game, that’s probably one of the things that got to me.

“We love him as a bloke. And at no stage is there anything … if anyone even hints to the [idea] that it has anything to do with it, it makes me angry, because I love him as a bloke and it’s affected him a fair bit.”

Howe said the incident “had nothing to do with the result” and that the team would rally around their VFL counterpart.