“Very principled”: Johns and Kemp applaud Webster and Warriors for hard stance on Fonua-Blake

Matty Johns and Denan Kemp have praised New Zealand Warriors’ coach Andrew Webster for standing down Addin Fonua-Blake, saying it sets an important precedent for the club.

Fonua-Blake has been stood down for one week by the Warriors for leaving Suncorp Stadium before the team song and coach’s post-match speech, with the club saying he failed to meet team standards.

The star prop’s breach occurred at Magic Round after the Warriors’ upset win over the Penrith Panthers, in which the injury-hit Warriors held the reigning premiers off to win 22-20.

As a result, Fonua-Blake will miss this week’s must-win match against the fourth placed Dolphins, a move which has drawn admiration from Kemp and Johns.

“It’s Webster being principled, but it doesn’t change the fact that Fonua-Blake did it,” Kemp told SEN1170 Morning Glory with Matty Johns.

"I think Webster’s looking at it going, ‘Fonua-Blake’s going anyway’, so even if I put him offside, the young boy’s that are coming through that are probably some of the best in the competition, at least I’ll teach them a lesson they’ll learn for the rest of their careers.

“A guy who’s played 150 games, he doesn’t just go ‘I accidentally forgot to stay’… clearly there’s something more going on.

“From a Warriors’ perspective, we are supposed to be premiership threats this year, but the problem is if you’ve got a disgruntled player that is also a leader, and he stays disgruntled, it can derail your season even more because it poisons the dressing room.”

Johns agreed that the standards now set by Webster and the Warriors will ensure the continuation of a strong culture at the New Zealand club.

“I think when you’ve got young players there looking for guidance, particularly when a senior player does that, if they let that slide then a lot of the younger players, it just gives them a little bit of breathing space and a little bit of rope,” Johns said.

“The importance of this game… it is very principled to stand down the best yardage man in the competition at the moment.”

The Warriors play the Dolphins at home this Sunday at 4pm AEST.