Wounded Warriors upset over Kearney sacking

SENIOR player Tohu Harris says sacked coach Stephen Kearney was the man holding the Warriors together through their long stint in Australia and the club’s bosses should have looked closer before swinging the axe.

Harris shone a light on how difficult many players have found the quarantine process away from their loved ones back in Auckland for nearly two months.

The second-rower said yesterday he wouldn’t begrudge any teammate who wanted to return home or, at the very least, pull out of Friday’s match against Melbourne, such is the depth of feeling within the club’s apartments in Terrigal on the NSW Central Coast.

Two days after Kearney’s brutal dismissal, Harris said the players and staff were still in a state of shock.

Many of them, he said, had forged a close bond with the fourth-season coach and believed management had acted in “harsh” fashion in the wake of Friday’s 40-16 loss to South Sydney – a scoreline they believe was unflattering.

Kearney had overseen two wins from their past four matches and, crucially, had evolved into more than just a coach.

“Mooks (Kearney) is the one that has given us a shoulder or been the ears that a lot of us can talk to about the struggle of not being with families,” Harris said.

“There’s a lot of us who have worked with him and are very close to him over the years now … he’s the one person that was sort of holding the team together.

“We’re left scrambling pretty much.”

The players were to return to training today.