Warriors skipper Simon Mannering has rejected suggestions that coach Matthew Elliott’s exit from the NRL club came after player pressure.

Elliott resigned five rounds into his second season with the Warriors after a meeting with chairman Bill Wavish following the 37-6 defeat to Cronulla on Saturday.

One of Elliott’s assistants, Andrew McFadden, has taken over as acting head coach until the end of the season.

Mannering says he has no idea how the speculation arose that the players had a hand in the change.

“I don’t know where the player revolt came into it,” he said.

“I don’t think us players have a leg to stand on in saying who the coach is with the performance we played on Saturday.”

Mannering said the news of Elliott’s departure came as a shock to the players when they were told on Monday morning.

He said the big discrepancies in the Warriors’ performances in their two wins and three losses this season wasn’t down to one person.

“Unfortunately Matt is the one that has taken the flak as the coach but as players we have to take responsibility also,” he said.

“We’re the ones on the field. We can control what happens out there.”

Mannering said the error-ridden display against the Sharks was something he hadn’t seen coming.

“But it’s nothing new for the club over the last couple of years,” he said.

“It’s been very frustrating to have a pretty good brand of football one week and then a pretty poor one. It’s something that does need to be addressed.”

Warriors chief executive Wayne Scurrah said it was “absolutely not” the case that players had gone to senior management with concerns about working with Elliott.

“I was at a players meeting this morning when we talked about it and everyone in the club knows we’ve made a lot of progress under Matt,” he said.

“Matt has given 100 per cent. At the end of the day, though, we’re measured on NRL results.”