Star NZ Warriors back-rower Tohu Harris says the players "feel responsible" for the sacking of coach Stephen Kearney.
Kearney was given the flick, less than 24-hours after the Warriors' 40-12 defeat to the South Sydney Rabbitohs, which leaves the team sitting 13th on the NRL ladder after six games.
The decision was met with plenty of criticism, due to the challenges the team has faced this year from the coronavirus pandemic.
Players and a small group of staff were forced to relocate to the Central Coast in order to keep the NRL going this year, leaving their families in New Zealand.
Being away from their loved ones for such a long time has been tough on the players, and Harris said Kearney as the one "holding this team together".
"I'm feeling for Mooks [Kearney] and his family now," says Harris.
"I feel personally that it wasn't deserved, especially with the players and how we feel that we let him down.
"As players, because we feel responsible for the result. He was the one person that was holding this team together.
"A lot of us have watched the game back and we saw how many opportunities we had that we didn't finish.
"To have the decision made after the result we felt responsible for, we feel it's really harsh."
Kearney was informed of the news on Saturday morning and had to wait until the afternoon to address the team.
"No one really saw this coming and there are a lot of us who have worked with him and been close to him for a number of years now, like Adam Blair has known him since he was 16 years old.
"We're just all a bit shocked and are sort of left scrambling pretty much."
Tod Payten has taken over head coaching duties until the end of the season and his first game is against the Melbourne Storm on Friday Night at AAMI Park.
"Todd is shocked too, it's unfair to him too to be thrown in the deep end," Harris added.
"I haven't even thought about this week yet. We have training today so we have to get there to see how everyone is feeling."
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