Melbourne hooker Brandon Smith has been sent straight to the NRL judiciary after allegedly questioning the integrity of referee Adam Gee.

Melbourne hooker Brandon Smith has been referred straight to the NRL judiciary for an outburst directed at referee Adam Gee in Thursday's loss to Cronulla.

Smith is staring at a fine and possible suspension after being hit with an ungraded contrary conduct charge stemming from the Storm's 28-6 loss.

Fox Sports vision appear to show Smith calling Gee a "cheating bastard" while Melbourne were attacking the Cronulla line in the 60th minute.

Gee immediately stopped play and sent the hooker for a 10-minute spell.

Smith, who declined to divulge what he said, will front the NRL judiciary panel on Tuesday night..

"I lost my temper and it's very disappointing on my behalf. I let not only myself but all my teammates down," Smith said. "That's not good enough.

"I went in and apologised to him (Gee) afterwards. I just lost my cool at the time and I've got to be better than that.

"I'll try to maintain my distance from him (coach Craig Bellamy) for a while.

"I'm sure he will be disappointed in me. I let the team down and he's all about a team-first mentality.

"He (Gee) was all good, he just said: 'I can't cop that'. I said: 'I'm sorry I took my frustration out on you'. I was probably just annoyed at my own performance."

Meanwhile, Cronulla's Briton Nikora was hit with a grade-two dangerous contact charge on Melbourne's Kenny Bromwich and is looking at a one-game ban with an early guilty plea.

Sharks prop Andrew Fifita escaped with a fine for a dangerous throw on Smith.

The loss to Cronulla means Melbourne's hopes of challenging Penrith for the minor premiership are all but over.

It was the Storm's second loss in the space of seven days after a defeat to Manly.

Bellamy labelled their effort in the Manly game as "soft" and he put the Storm through their paces in a bruising training session last week with Smith coming off worse as a result of some friendly fire.

"I got a little bit of a sore rib at training and it was sore tonight," he said.

"I copped a few whacks to it (tonight but) I can't say (who did it)."

Smith is concerned by Melbourne's defence after they conceded 64 points across their last two games.

"It is very uncharacteristic of this club," he said.

"There wasn't the response we needed this week. We've got a lot of injuries but this isn't what this club is about.

"We are a defensively-minded team and we're trying to find the easy options."