Fans react to Warriors night out

Warriors coach Andrew McFadden during a New Zealand Warriors NRL media session. Photo / Getty Images.

Fans who were already losing patience with the Warriors have expressed their anger and disappointment at the latest news to afflict the under-pressure NRL club.

It emerged this morning that six players were out late on Tuesday night, a day after their dreadful 42-0 defeat to the Storm, and a couple were late to a team meeting the following morning. Manu Vatuvei, Ben Matulino, Bodene Thompson, Sam Lisone and Albert Vete were all dropped from the side named to play the Dragons on Sunday and Konrad Hurrell was also sanctioned.

Former Kiwis coach Graham Lowe said earlier this season a "bro culture" was to blame for their poor run of results and this week said the present squad were on their way to "becoming the worst Warriors team in history".

"Graham Lowe is right, the culture is wrong," Tim Gordon said on the Veitchy on Sport Facebook page. "How do you change the culture? Make players, ESPECIALLY senior players, accountable for their actions. These guys are PROFESSIONALS - to set a standard for the club, and to start the ball rolling on a better culture, they absolutely needed to be dropped."

Simon Johnston agreed. "Not a good look at all... especially these older guys getting some young lads involved. I feel they need to get someone like Jerome Kaino and Kevin Mealamu to explain what is required. If you go against team protocols in the ABs it's not the CEO or manager or coach or HR department but the senior leadership group. Peer on peer [is] harder to appear before than any fish head. Very disrespectful of rest of team, coach and fans."

Jerry Flynn added: "Good idea. I hate to say it but get rid of Manu too, pretty sure he is a big part of the so called "bro culture" that is turning this club into a joke. Always liked Manu but clearly he doesn't care about this club any more."

James Harty wrote: "Bro culture. As long as it's there, they'll never get near October football. They're an absolute disgrace."Someone else, writing under the pseudonym of Buckstah Jah Rasta, disagreed that it was down to bro culture.

"I keep hearing it's the bro culture. The last time I heard, the whole Kiwi team has the bro culture yet they still pick up the wins. It's not the culture, it's the structure that the coaches install. They don't play what they see anymore. They're too busy doing plays that 12 years olds could read."Some fans supported the club's hard-line stance.

"Why demoralised?" Ben Jackson asked. "Isn't this a good sign for the management trying to improve the attitude of the players? Bench them, fine them, do something to change the culture."