Joel Wood's future up in the air after Valentine deregistration

Wood was found guilty of unwarranted conduct/contact with a match official plus repeated use of offensive language for an incident late in the 4-0 loss to Maitland on May 9 at Cooks Square Park.

A 2019 premiership winner with Maitland, Wood was sent off after he punched the ball away in frustration at a referee's decision and it struck a linesman. He was captain at the time.

The 36-year-old former Jet said he found out about Valentine's decision "via an email from the federation saying I'd been deregistered".

"There was no phone call, there's was no one telling me this is what's happening," Wood said. "If they want to part ways, that's totally within their rights, but there's a right way and a wrong way to go about it."

Wood was unsure of his future in the Northern NSW NPL given he cannot finish his ban while unregistered.

"I'm not actually losing any time right now," he said.

"I think I served two weeks with Valo before the deregistration, so I've still got five weeks to go and that's definitely part of the decision in speaking to a couple of clubs and how that's going to fit in with their season and if it's even worth fitting it in."

He hoped to find a club this week but said he could also "not worry about it".

"I'm obviously getting on in my career, so whether it's worth doing or not, I don't 100 per cent know. I'm just year to year at the moment."

Wood believed he had been "harshly penalised".

"It was obviously a frustrating moment and I would take it back if I could," he said. "I understand they frown upon anything with referees, but if you watch the footage, it's an absolute freak accident.

"I'm not even looking at the linesman when the ball is hit out of my hands. I'm looking at the ref, and the linesman is standing at 90 degrees to me and 10 yards away, so for me to AFL pass it and hit the linesman, it would be an amazing skill and I'd be playing for the Swans."

Wood was among the top recruits player-coach Adam Hughes brought to Valentine this year. Hughes said the club had decided to part ways with Wood because of the disciplinary matter and he had since promoted young players to fill the breach.

Valentine remain last on two points after a 1-0 loss to Newcastle Olympic in round nine on Sunday. The visitors scored in the 83^rd minute.

"We just missed some of our chances that we probably should have put away earlier on, then it comes back to bite you like that," Hughes said.

"But from the performance, what the players are putting in, it's been positive.

"It's just going to take us scoring some chances to make it different in the second half of the season."

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