Uta's second double of the season helped the Charlestown club defeat the Scorpions 24-10 at St John Oval on Sunday, also splitting a deadlock between them on the Newcastle Rugby League ladder.

Central now sit alongside fellow weekend winners Wyong and Souths (8 points) but the Scorpions slipped to a three-way share of fifth with Cessnock and The Entrance (6).

Butcher Boys coach Phil Williams described it as a "hard-fought victory", having seen an 18-0 lead reduce to eight points inside the last quarter of the game.

"That's just the state of play at the moment," Williams said in relation to the closeness of the competition.

"We were pretty clinical early and then we went away from what we were supposed to be doing. But in the end we closed it out, we found a way."

Uta, who also recorded a brace a fortnight ago, pounced on a loose ball just prior to the main break for a 16-0 advantage before carrying two defenders over the line in the corner to seal the result late in the piece.

"He [Uta] is playing well, but we've got a lot of blokes playing well," Williams said.

"Everybody is doing their part which is the sign of a good side. We've shown we're a lot better than those first two games and it feels like we're starting to get on a bit of a roll."

Central, who had Warren Schillings cleared to play his first game at the Butcher Boys, have now won four in a row.

Macquarie coach Steve Kidd was left to count a mounting injury toll with winger William Lousick (knee) stretchered off nearing full-time, captain Liam Higgins (ankle) leaving the field midway through the first half and Tye Alchin undergoing a HIA.

Ben Roose (hamstring) also failed a fitness test at training on Friday night while halfback Bayden Searle (concussion) was already sidelined.

"We were just really poor," Kidd said.

"Credit to Central, they were too good for us, but it took us 50 minutes to create any type of line speed. We started to claw our way back but it was too late."

Luke Higgins and Royce Geoffrey were the try scorers for the Scorpions during the second half. Butcher Boys five-eighth Ryan Walsh produced 12 points.

Saturday's fixtures saw Wyong edge out Cessnock 34-30 in a see-sawing thriller at Morry Breen Oval, Jake Welsh crashed over late to see Souths home against Lakes 26-20 at Cahill Oval, unbeaten leaders Maitland dominated the Bulldogs 52-0 at Kurri Sportsground and Western Suburbs slumped to a seventh-straight loss going down 24-4 to The Entrance at Harker Oval.

LADDER: Maitland 14; Wyong, Souths, Central 8; Macquarie, The Entrance, Cessnock 6; Lakes, Kurri 2; Wests 0.

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