Manu Vatuvei is one of five players being investigated by the Warriors for breaking team protocols.

Fans are reacting angrily after six Warriors players were stood down from Sunday's game for breaching team protocol with a night out.

It was understood Ben Matulino, Manu Vatuvei, Bodene Thompson, Konrad Hurrell and Sam Lisone went out for a big night in town in Auckland, taking along Albert Vete as a designated driver. All six have been dropped to reserve grade instead of playing against the Dragons on Sunday.

The group went out on Tuesday night, after the team returned from Melbourne, and finished their night at an Auckland Viaduct bar at about 2-3am on Wednesday. Hurrell and Vete were not drinking alcohol but the others were.

Are you losing faith in the Warriors? Share your stories, photos and videos. Contribute

There was some confusion as the players didn't have training on Wednesday so thought they it was fine to go out. However, some players were late for a Wednesday meeting and the club began their investigation, resulting in the players being stood down.

Coach Andrew McFadden said the six players would play reserve grade for failing to meet team standards following the loss to Melbourne on Anzac Day. "We've dealt with this internally after questioning the players involved and won't be going into any details," he said in a statement.

READ MORE:

* Johnstone: McFadden has lost control

* Manly deny drugs claims

* Foran on indefinite leave

* Bunnies fans boo their own in loss to Tigers

* Luke wouldn't pick himself

* It's in the contract - no Warriors buffoonery

RENEE MCKAY/PHOTOSPORT Warriors forward Bodene Thompson has been dropped to reserve grade for a week.

Did you see the Warriors out? Email your newstips, photos and video to newstips@stuff.co.nz

TONY FEDER/GETTY IMAGES Warriors centre Konrad Hurrell.

Warriors managing director Jim Doyle had confirmed he was investigating the incident.

"There is something we are following up on, but it's a work in progress at the moment," Doyle said.

Phil Walter/ Getty Images Warriors CEO Jim Doyle says the club is investigating the incident.

"I'm working through the process and I can't make any comment until I get all the facts."

But Doyle, a respected figure in the administration game, was clearly upset with this turn of events coming after the embarrassing 42-0 loss to the Storm in Melbourne on Monday night.

"We have met high standards as an organisation and we expect our players to meet those standards," Doyle told Radio Sport.

Photosport.nz Young Warriors prop Albert Vete was caught up in the night out as the sober driver.

"We expect all of our players to be professional and meet all of our standards and in this case it is very disappointing that those players haven't.

"We met with the players as a group and we have further meetings with them individually. They were disappointed, emotional, regretful etc.

"We want to have a successful club that we are all proud of and that means you have to have a high performance, professional culture and when things don't go the way they are supposed to go you have to take the appropriate action to make sure everybody is aware of what our standards are.

Paul Seiser/ Photosport.nz Warriors forward Sam Lisone.

"We want long-term success and to do that we have to certain things in place. Our expectations are that every single player who plays for the Warriors is a professional makes everyone associated with the club proud.

"We need our players to prepare well to do the things that are required to play in a tough competition and when people don't do that you obviously need to take necessary steps."

Warriors management and McFadden, in particular, have stressed the importance of players behaving themselves off the field this season.

GETTY IMAGES Warriors forward Ben Matulino is one of the six players dropped to reserve grade.

Last year Vatuvei was criticised for tweeting that he was at a movie at the same time as the Warriors were playing.

There was also an incident last year where a number of players went to a concert in Auckland the night before they flew to Australia for a game.

Coincidentally, Dragons coach Paul McGregor was this week fined after being caught drink-driving on his way to practice last Sunday morning.

FANS REACT

* Sign up to receive our new evening newsletter Two Minutes of Stuff - the news, but different