Payten won't stop Warriors who want to leave

Interim Warriors coach Todd Payten says there is a possibility of players returning home to New Zealand to be with their families and if that happens he won't try and stop them.

Payten made his feelings on a second dire on-field performance clear in his first post-match press conference following a 50-6 capitulation against Melbourne on Friday night but also expressed empathy with how tough some players are doing it.

"Everyone misses their families," he said.

"That's still not a good enough reason to perform like we did. That should be the reason why we pull our finger out and work our butt off to do our families justice.

"It's a possibility that may happen (players leaving). I'm not going to stand in their way, I don't think any of us would stand in their way but we'll cross that when it happens."

Payten said he had limited room to move at the selection table with only four or five fit players outside the game day squad but stressed he would be prioritising a willingness to scrap and fight and defend over attacking prowess moving forward.

"I told the lads downstairs the team is going to be picked on effort and defensive capabilities moving forward," he said.

"If they want to put themselves in the picture on effort and wanting to scrap then I don't care what they offer us from an attack point of view. That's my mindset and that's our mindset moving forward."

He said players couldn't blame the sacking of popular coach Steve Kearney for the performance, given it was nearly identical to the 40-12 loss to Souths a week prior.

Both games featured some early chances to score points that weren't converted, followed by the team dropping their bundle once things started going against them.

"Tonight's performance was an indication of exactly where we're at," he said.

"We're a team that needs to have a sniff to kick on with it. Things go against us we're not tough enough at the moment to dig ourselves out of it. I questioned whether across the park we had players that were willing to put their body on the line and fight hard for the team.

"We've known for a while why we're here. We've won two games. It was an almost identical performance to last week. Last week we created some opportunities, things went against us, threw an intercept, they go up the field, we lose one for 10 minutes then we can't fight our way out of it.

"Tonight was very similar, got over the try line twice, they go almost the full length of the field and we drop our heads and our bundles for too long.

"The thing that's getting them at the moment is the uncertainty around the families and are they coming over.

"Another hard thing is the Australian families are already here so they can see that around them. We're having a meeting on Sunday with a couple of big dogs at the NRL to get some clarity around that, that's where things are at at the moment."

Storm coach Craig Bellamy was happy with his team's defensive resilience but tempered that with concern for what the Warriors are going through and appreciation of the sacrifices they have made.

The Storm's own uncertainties leaving Melbourne and not yet knowing where they will be based pale in comparison to the Warriors' concerns.

"It's been a topsy turvy week for the group but when you consider what the Warriors have been through and are still going through, we've got it pretty easy to be quite honest," he said.

"I really admire what the Warriors are doing to be away from their families and have to back up week after week and to lose Steve who was their flagship, that’s been a really tough thing for the players and staff there.

"While I'm really happy with the win I really feel for the Warriors at the moment."