Concussion remains the hottest topic for the NRL following revelations former State of Origin winger James McManus is taking legal action against Newcastle for its handling of his head knocks.

Head office has shown it is taking the issue seriously by fining three clubs - Newcastle, St George Illawarra and the Gold Coast - a total of $350,000 over incidents that occurred last weekend. The most the NRL had previously fined a club for flaunting its concussion protocols was $20,000.

De Gois is still hopeful of returning to the NRL, although he will have to prove to his club and head office that he is medically fit to do so before he gains a clearance. The Parramatta hooker hasn't played since suffering a concussion against the Gold Coast during a preseason fixture in Darwin. De Gois has been suffering from headaches when increasing his training load and the Eels are erring on the side of caution.

The 32-year-old has made 225 first-grade appearances in stints at the Tigers, Sharks, Knights and Eels and appeared an outside chance of reaching the exclusive 300-game mark after agreeing to an extension that would take him through until the end of 2018. Such is the esteem he is held in by Brad Arthur, De Gois received the Jack Gibson NRL coach's award at the club's end-of-season awards night.

The Portuguese international could still return, but the McManus case is a timely reminder of the legal and health implications of concussions.

Like other contact sports, league is looking to improve protocols as new technology and research comes to light. The standardised tool for assessing concussions worldwide is the SCAT3, which includes measures for symptom evaluation, cognitive assessment, and exams for balance and co-ordination.

However, an update will soon be available called SCAT5, which has additional measures and is considered easier to administer. The SCAT5 was one of the topics discussed at the AFL's Concussion Symposium in Melbourne during the week, which was attended by a range of luminaries including NRL chief medical officer Dr Paul Bloomfield.

The SCAT5 will soon be used worldwide, but details are under embargo until they are published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

In the interim, the NRL is looking at other potential ways to bolster its own protocols. Head office is considering the prospect of allowing teams an 18th man, who could be called into the fray to replace a concussed player. There are also multiple proposals about the use of independent doctors, although this would likely be in addition to - rather than in place of - club medicos. One option is for an independent doctor to be stationed in the NRL Bunker, providing another set of eyes to monitor the action.

"The idea of an independent doctor at the bunker has been assessed previously," an NRL spokesperson said.

"In fact NRL CMO Dr Paul Bloomfield spent time at the bunker last year in order to assess the feasibility of that option.

"It has also been discussed by the NRL's Medical Advisory Panel.

"The idea will continue to be assessed, along with a number of others."

The NRL said it wanted to be a global leader on the concussion issue.

"We will continue to invest significant time, research and resources into concussion," the spokesperson said.

"So far this season, we have experimented with audio for trainers and doctors, while we are finding new ways to analyse video in real-time.

"The amount of work being done in this area, in a short amount of time and at a substantial cost, is significant.

"But we feel the effort and resources are worthwhile - we want to be world leaders when it comes to concussion management."