Warriors coach Stephen Kearney is not blaming the last minute injury withdrawal of Kieran Foran for his team's 26-12 loss to the Dragons.

Warriors coach Stephen Kearney has admitted the late withdrawal of Kieran Foran was a factor in the team's 26-12 defeat to the Dragons, but says it is not an excuse.

There were stunning scenes just minutes before the game at Jubilee Oval in Sydney with Foran on a massage table receiving treatment after the Warriors had finished their warm up for the round four NRL game.

It was later revealed that Foran had torn his hamstring and although it wasn't serious, Kearney and the medical team didn't want to risk him.

MARK KOLBE/ GETTY IMAGES Shaun Johnson had another solid game, but isn't getting support from those around him.

His absence caused a major reshuffle to the team's lineup with Blake Ayshford having to back up from playing for the reserves 24 hours earlier to slot into the centres, with David Fusitu'a moving to the wing and Tuimoala Lolohea at five-eighth.

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PAUL SEISER/ PHOTOSPORT This was as far as Kieran Foran got to making his debut for the Warriors on Sunday night.

The Warriors looked shellshocked early in the game and the Dragons capitalised, jumping to a 20-2 lead.

While the absence of Foran was a blow, Kearney said it wasn't the reason why the Warriors lost the game.

"It could have been a factor, but that doesn't stop us from dropping the ball or missing tackles," Kearney said.

"That's just an excuse."

Kearney said Foran's injury isn't bad, but they decided playing him was too risky.

"He's spent 10 months getting himself back into the game and the last thing we wanted to do was send him out there and make it worse," Kearney said.

"We certainly didn't want to take any risks with that."

If Foran had played and had to come off with an injury after a few minutes, it would likely have meant Bodene Thompson had to shift to centre, plus the other changes and the Warriors would have to see out the game with 16 available players.

Kearney admitted it was a bad start from his team and although they were able to work their way back into the contest, mistakes cost them the chance of coming home with two competition points.

"We let it get away from us at the start," he said.

"After the first 20 minutes then we really started chasing the game and after 20 minutes we ended up with a 12-6 scoreline.

"But we just weren't good enough in terms of our execution and there were too many errors to really build on that pressure.

"I thought we got ourselves back into the contest, but we didn't capitalise on the opportunities.

"Shaun (Johnson) went through a couple of times, David (Fusitu'a) had an opportunity on the right edge.

"But coupled with the errors, we didn't maximise on the opportunities we got presented with."

While it was a night of disappointment, a shining light was the performances of James Gavet and Ligi Sao, who were both making their first appearances this season.

They brought a real energy to the Warriors attack when they came off the bench and both can expect to feature heavily over the coming weeks.

"They played really well and that was a real positive," Kearney said of Gavet and Sao.

"But there was some positive parts in that the boys really did get themselves back into the contest."

There are still 20 more games for the Warriors this season, so this loss wasn't catastrophic, but it is just one win from four games.

In patches so far this team have shown what they're capable of, but consistency is something that remains an issue.

They missed 31 tackles on Sunday night, compared to 16 from the Dragons, made 19 errors and completed just 61 per cent of their sets.

"After 20 minutes it ended up being 12-6 our way, but we couldn't build on that because we made too many errors," Kearney lamented.

"That's got to be the learn for us from this game. For the first few weeks we had a real good completion rate, but you can't compete at this level when you make so many errors."