NSW coach Craig Bellamy has slammed video referee Bill Harrigan's decision to disallow a try to impressive Blues winger Jarryd Hayne early in the opening State of Origin clash at Etihad Stadium.

Hayne appeared to have given the Blues a surprise 6-0 lead when he flew past opposing winger Israel Folau and raced down the left touchline before beating Billy Slater to touch down in the corner.

The decision was passed to the video referee, with Harrigan taking several minutes before ruling Hayne's left foot had brushed the sideline.

The Maroons went on to win the match 28-18 despite a spirited NSW fightback in the second half.

"I think (Harrigan) had a look at that (replay) seven or eight times - where's the benefit of the doubt?" said Bellamy.

"I don't know whether he's seen the boot touch the sideline on the eighth go or the seventh go, when he couldn't see it in the first, second, third or fourth.

"To me that's benefit of the doubt.

"I don't know how he could come up with that decision to be quite honest."

Hayne was also adamant he had scored a legitimate try.

"It was a 50-50 call but I always thought the attacking team got the benefit of the doubt unless the rule was changed or something," he said.

Bellamy also thought Hayne was wrongly penalised a few minutes after the no-try ruling, with Greg Inglis scoring in the resulting set of six.

"I also thought we got a really tough penalty call before halftime," said Bellamy.

"I thought Ben Creagh got to his feet to play the ball and I thought Mick Crocker pushed him back down again.

"But at the end of the day we needed to respond better after that no try of Hayne's.

"The next 10 minutes they basically had seven or eight sets in a row and our defence just wasn't up to it inside our 20m zone and that's when they got the three tries.

"It just took a bit of confidence out of our young team."

Bellamy paid tribute to the performance of NSW skipper Kurt Gidley, although the Newcastle star marked himself hard for two crucial errors in the final 10 minutes.

In the 73rd minute and with the Blues only trailing by six points, he had a foot on the line while playing the ball in the in-goal.

And in the dying seconds, Gidley knocked on, allowing the Maroons to swing the ball to winger Darius Boyd who scored their fifth try.

"I thought that I'd got past those sort of things and you just can't make those sort of errors at club footy, let along at this level," said Gidley.

"It's something I won't forget and I'll do everything I can in the next one to get those out of my game."

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