Dent insisted Smith did not cost his side two competition points but suggested Newcastle referees gave "underdogs" few favours.

And he had an ally in Central coach Wayne Richards, who said some of Smith's decisions in the see-sawing contest were "blatantly wrong".

"I think we lost the plot a little bit in a few sets down on their line, but in saying that, I think if the referee has a look at the video, I think we were short-changed on the tackle count a couple of times. It was crucial too, because we were attacking their line," Dent said.

"But in saying that, they were probably just a fraction too good for us on the day.

"Our individual errors killed us, and when we've got a lot of young blokes in particular positions, that's going to happen."

Central scored tries just before and after half-time while Maitland skipper Luke Gibson was in the sin-bin for a professional foul, turning a 16-10 deficit into a 22-18 advantage which they extended to 26-18 when Justin Apthorpe scored in the 50th minute.

The Pickers hit back with tries to Sione Tovo and Jesse Clarke to regain the lead 28-26 in the 63rd minute.

But the Butcher Boys hit the front for good when prop Caine Mathias crashed over seven minutes from full-time and halfback Chad Solman converted.

"They [referees] have got a terrible job, a very hard job, but I'm pretty confident if we have a look at the video, there's some obvious ones for both sides," Dent said.

"They scored twice while we had 12 men on the park, for an error that I don't think deserved a sin-bin at all. They got penalised two times for high shots and they stay on the field, so I can't work it out.

"I think they get a mindset sometimes that a side's supposed to win, and if the underdog wins there's something wrong with their performance.