Six Warriors players including veterans Ben Matulino, Manu Vatuvei, and Bodene Thompson have been dropped after a late night that breached team standards after their embarrassing 0-42 loss to Melbourne Storm at AAMI Park on Anzac Day. It's understood the six went out on Tuesday night until the early hours of Wednesday morning. Others among the casualty list dropped is Bodene Thompson, Albert Vete, Sam Lisone and Konrad Hurrell to face St George Illawarra in Sunday’s encounter at Mount Smart Stadium.
McFadden says, “We’ve dealt with this internally after questioning the players involved and won’t be going into any details.”
All six players have been reprimanded and will now play in Sunday's second-tier NSW Intrust Super Cup Premiership match against the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs. This is a huge blow for Warriors head coach McFadden who is desperate to rebuild his side.
21-year-old prop Toafofoa Sipley is set to make his NRL debut this weekend, while Sione Lousi, John Palavi, and Matt Allwood have earned recalls to the top side.
McFadden’s side was named in no particular order with his starting line-up and interchange bench to be confirmed an hour before the match.
VODAFONE WARRIORS
MATT ALLWOOD
BLAKE AYSHFORD
DAVID FUSITU'A
JAMES GAVET
CHARLIE GUBB
RYAN HOFFMAN (c)
SHAUN JOHNSON
SOLOMONE KATA
SHAUN LANE
THOMAS LEULUAI
JACOB LILLYMAN
SIONE LOUSI
ISSAC LUKE
JOHN PALAVI
TOAFOFOA SIPLEY
JAZZ TEVAGA
JONATHAN WRIGHT