"He was a young guy, rookie coach. But I could see the players at the time had immense respect for him. And he still has the respect of the players, the respect of the management, and the respect of the sponsors."
Watson also criticised his club's track record of throwing out management staff when results aren't favourable.
"We've been pretty hard on a few coaches, we've burnt them out, and we've burned a few CEOs out.
"Their lives have changed as a result."
Some have questioned why the organisation has chosen to keep McFadden as an assistant.
Kiwis coach Stephen Kearney was announced as McFadden's successor with former Warrior Stacey Jones also named as an assistant.
Despite the criticism, Watson is adamant it's the right choice.
"Why not keep him? He's got the IP, he understands what's happening, he knows what went wrong and what to do next time.
"We've had five seasons where we haven't had finals football and we need a different approach.
"We need a different approach to football, it's got to be a collaborative approach, a quality approach, we need to separate governance of a business, from the governance of football.
"Stephen [Kearney] is a collaborative type of coach, and he's [McFadden] is happy to embrace this collaborative approach."
