Griffiths has broken his silence on the club's growing frustration with the standard of refereeing in a number of games this season.

"The refereeing was diabolical. The sad thing for us is that it's not the first time it has happened this year," Griffiths said.

"I've sent off emails after different games where we felt the refereeing has really cost us and asked for clarification around some decisions that were made.

"The answers we've got back is that the refs were in the wrong but it doesn't help us because at the end of the day those things are costing us games."

Griffiths said it was the first time the side had rediscovered the effort they had in 2018, when the side made the preliminary final.

"I can't fault the effort on Saturday which is the most important thing," he said.

"I thought the game got taken away from us in the first half. We did so much defending that we struggled to come up with effective set endings in the second half because we were under so much fatigue.

"That was due to having to defend for long periods of time. I thought the refereeing was absolutely diabolical and it really came back to haunt us later in the game.

"We were penalised out of the game, particularly in the first half. We defended for long periods of time on our line and just kept getting penalised.

"We ended up with a guy in the bin in the first half which carried over into the second."

Griffiths said the clubs and league administration had taken a more professional approach since coming under the NSW Rugby League banner, but the refereeing had not improved.

"I question the referee association and where they're heading and what they are doing," he said. "From our point of view it is not good enough.

"I think as a club we would support more resources for the referees to ensure they have the necessary feedback and training to go to the next level.

"It's an extremely hard job and they should be resourced properly to do it. We also need better lines of communication to let us know what they are doing and improvements they are making.

The Bulldogs went into the break trailing 8-0, but scored first in the second half with tries to Jarred Anderson and Tyme Dow Nikau to lead 12-8 but the Scorpions finished strong to end a four-game losing streak.

It was Kurri's second loss in a row and results over the weekend mean that Maitland jump to third on the table on 10 points one win ahead of Kurri and Cessnock on 8.

"We're facing challenges as a side, we haven't been where we needed to be and I've made them aware of that," Griffiths said.

"We've discussed things and worked hard to get our game where it needs to be.

"On the weekend to turn up with a fantastic effort and for the officials to dish up what they did is not good enough."

Scorpions duo Nathan Cantor and Jordan Noble were put on report along with Kurri's Reid Alchin. Bulldogs substitute Jayden Young was sin-binned just before half-time.

Kurri Kurri host Central Newcastle next on July 7.