Warriors star Tohu Harris has shed light on the general mood of the Warriors locker-room just two days on from the shock axing of head coach Stephen Kearney.
Tohu says he believes the move wasn't right and players feel responsible for his dismissal.
With the Warriors season restart hampered by a succession of set backs, including the side's upheaval and relocation to Australia due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Kearney's departure is more upheaval for the Warriors this season.
Harris described Kearney as the uniting figure in the Warriors camp and suggested that Kearney acted as a counsellor and mentor to players struggling with the prolonged stay away from home.
"We all feel deeply sad for Mooks [Kearney] - no one really saw this coming and there's a lot of us who've worked with him and been close with him for a couple of years now," Harris said.
"Mooks has been the one that is sort of holding the group together, getting us up every single week.
"The other coaches have been coaching while he's been managing everyone because there's so many different things going on and so many things out of our control. Now that we've lost that person doing that, we've got to scramble," he added.
"Its been a couple of months now that we haven't seen our families and Mooks has been the person that, well, he has asked people questions, he has spoken to people just to try and get them through each day.
"Mooks has been the one that's given us a shoulder or been the ears that a lot of us can talk to about the struggle of not being with families and things like that, so we just have to try and find another way through it."
Kearney's relationship with the current Warriors team extends beyond his tenure as Warriors head coach. The 48-year-old ex-Warrior has been an integral part of New Zealand rugby league, coaching the Kiwis side for nine seasons, guiding them to a World Cup title in 2008.
Harris said many senior players in the side have shared a close bond with Kearney and his presence at the Auckland side was a draw card for many.
"I think the majority of the squad has taken it quite hard to be honest like we said before there is a lot of guys who are here because of Mooks.
"Adam [Blair] has known him since he was 16 years old, I think more than half of his life he has worked directly with Mooks."
"Me personally, he's the one who gave me my first Test jersey. I've known him since early 2013, around then. If he wasn't in Auckland, me and my family, we don't come here.
"He's challenged Roger [Tuivasa-Sheck] and given him his captaincy and they've got a really close bond... there is alot of people here who are really close to Mooks so everyone here is still a bit shocked and taking it hard."
The senior leadership group, including Tuivasa-Sheck, Harris and others, spoke to interim coach Todd Payten yesterday to discuss the axing and while Harris didn't go in-depth of what was shared, he gave his personal opinion on the matter today.
"It's been a huge shock and we're still pretty sad by the news and feeling for Mooks and his family now.
"I feel, personally, that it wasn't deserved especially with the players and how we feel we've let him down.
"It feels very harsh - a lot of us have watched [Friday's] game back and we saw how many opportunities we had that we didn't finish. We felt responsible for that."
Harris says the added factor of Kearney's departure, could be enough for some players to sit this weekend's match out with the Melbourne Storm.
"I haven't even thought about this week's game," Harris said.
"I certainly won't judge anyone if they feel like they're not up to it. We were already in a tough situation where people where half and half, and then someone they're really close to has been told to leave, again if someone feels that way then I won't be judging them."
Harris didn't rule out the possibility of players heading back to New Zealand because of Kearney's axing, however, he suggested that a return home would jeopardise players abilities to provide for their families.
"The choice is still pretty much the same as before we came here, if we decide to go home we don't have a job.
"I honestly don't know how everyone is feeling in that respect."
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