Dave Woods is a former Australian rugby league player and coach. Woods has been involved in rugby since the age of three. He began as a ball boy for the Enfield Federals, his father's team, and the following year joined the under-6s rugby league. He later played junior rugby league for St George, serving the Jersey Flegg and under-23s as a captain. He also appeared as a reserve player for the Penrith Panthers and the Parramatta Eels,respectively from 1989-1997 and 1998-2001. He began coaching while still in junior rugby league. He took two teams to premierships in Parramatta, the Greystones to the under-17s C-grade and the Merrylands to the top tier. After that, he became a development coach for the Penrith Panthers, which led eventually to his coaching the Castleford Tigers. In the 2005 season, the team achieved the National League One title and, under his direction, was promoted to Super League. Woods was then released by the Tigers because they wanted a better known coach to guide them in their Super League career. He later coached Gateshead Thunder and in his second season took them bottom of the table to champions of Championship 1.