League: Stephen Kearney addresses late withdrawal of Roger Tuivasa-Sheck after Warriors 13-12 loss to Melbourne Storm

Warriors coach Stephen Kearney has responded to criticism over the withdrawal of captain Roger Tuivasa-Sheck for last night's game against the Melbourne Storm.

The reigning Dally M medallist was removed from the line up on Wednesday night due to a hamstring injury. The injury was reported by media on Tuesday morning, only to be denied by Kearney that afternoon when questioned about the situation by Radio Sport.

However, following the Warriors 13-12 loss to Melbourne last night, Kearney admitted his star fullback did report "a little bit of tightness" in the muscle after training on Monday.

"We trained on Monday and he completed training. He had a little bit of tightness but nothing too serious," Kearney said.

"That's the platform of social media, I don't know how it got out. He was adamant that he was okay then at the captain's run didn't pull up so well and we just didn't want to take the risk.

"But there were no shenanigans on our part. If you ask Roger, he was adamant that he was going to play."

Tuivasa-Sheck was one of three late withdrawals for the Warriors along with halfback Blake Green (groin) and centre Solomone Kata (compassionate grounds), while star winger David Fusitu'a was already sidelined with a rib injury.

But the circumstances around Tuivasa-Sheck's withdrawal after the idea initially being quashed by Kearney came under heavy criticism.

Kearney insisted there was never any intention to deliberately mislead the interested parties, and said Tuivasa-Sheck was always expected to play until after the Wednesday captain's run session.

Peta Hiku deputised at fullback in the captain's absence, while other injuries forced the Warriors to turn to a makeshift halves pairing by moving second rower Tohu Harris alongside Chanel Harris-Tavita, while Gerard Beale got a run on the wing and centre Patrick Herbert made his debut at the top level.

While many thought the loss of many of their key players would give the Warriors next to no chance of winning, they showed otherwise in a resilient effort against one of the competition's front-runners.

The Warriors hit the lead early through a Harris-Tavita penalty followed by a try to Adam Blair and lead 8-6 at the break.

Both sides scored tries early in the second half and as the clock ticked away the Warriors edged closer to a famous victory. However a dubious penalty call in the 75th minute gave Melbourne the chance to level the scores from the boot of Cameron Munster, and a Brodie Croft field goal two minutes later stole the win for the hosts.