League: Andrew McFadden adamant Warriors' culture issues 'in the past'

Warriors coach Andrew McFadden. Photo / Nick Reed.

Coach Andrew McFadden has moved to allay concerns over a perceived lack of professionalism at the Warriors following comments he made last weekend, about his experiences when he first arrived at the club.

McFadden unwittingly sparked a firestorm of debate about the current state of the club when he offered his insights in an interview with Tony Veitch on Newstalk ZB on Sunday, regarding issues that plagued the Warriors when he began his role as assistant to former head coach Matt Elliott in 2013.

In explaining the progress the club had made in working to improve their culture over the last two years, McFadden detailed the unprofessional attitudes and practices that were previously allowed to flourish before changes were made to turn things around.

McFadden today refused to expand on those issues and was adamant the examples he raised were in no way representative of the club's current state, or cause for Saturday's embarrassing 36-0 defeat to St George-Illawarra.

"I'm not going to go back there because it's not...I probably got led into that on the weekend and it's probably an area I shouldn't have gone because that's in the past," said McFadden.

"It's got nothing to do with what we're doing now and had no bearing on the result on the weekend. We've made some improvements in that area [club culture] but we need to obviously keep getting better."

When pressed on how much improvement is still required, McFadden reiterated that the levels of discipline and professionalism at the club had been raised, but conceded the Warriors still have some way to go before they find consistency in their performance and recruiting the right players to help them achieve success.

"On that side of things we're a lot better," he said.

"It's more to do with the way we play, the consistency we play with, and we're still working on our squad management. We need reliable people. We need class players that can help us get to where we want to."

He continued by detailing areas his players need to be more accountable in and the things they can do to further assist and improve their performances each week.

"It's the fundamental sides of the game. Off the field it's the way they prepare, the way they eat, sleep, hydrate and recover. On the park it's the standards that we uphold and that we drive at training."

Back-rower Ryan Hoffman said he had noticed a difference in club culture after arriving at the Warriors this season after 12 years at the ultra-professional Melbourne Storm.

"I came from a club that had certain standards and the standards here were a bit different," he said.

"Melbourne has had the same coaching staff, system, ethos and philosophy for the 12 years I was there so it was very easy to have that consistency with professionalism.

"Coming here to the Warriors, there's been a change, especially over the last 12 months. We're working hard on that professionalism and it's getting better.

"Previously there's been a few people that liked the idea of being a professional player but not exactly what it takes to actually be one.

"Those are areas we are improving as a club and that comes down to us as a team having those non-negotiables and slowly but surely players are starting to buy in."