Manly coach Geoff Toovey has accused the NRL of making doctors paranoid about being sued over the new concussion guidelines.

Toovey’s side lost 12-4 to St George Illawarra on Saturday in a slog of a game in Wollongong and their misery was compounded by injuries to Jamie Lyon (groin), Feleti Mateo (ankle) and Josh Starling (knee).

But it was the decision of Sea Eagles doctor Thomas Gan to withdraw Daly Cherry-Evans from the game when Toovey’s side were chasing the game at 12-4 down with three minutes left to play, that frustrated the coach.

Cherry-Evans was withdrawn after taking a knock to the head and was visibly angered by the decision – a sentiment echoed by Toovey, who accused the NRL of having chief medical officers running scared.

“Doctors are panicking on the sideline because they don’t want to get into trouble,” Toovey said.

“They are reacting to anything that happens and it has to be sorted out one way or the other because people are worried about being sued.”

The NRL have scrutinised concussion cases in the last few weeks with Parramatta and South Sydney under the microscope following incidents where Adam Reynolds and Nathan Peats returned to action after showing signs of concussion.

Paul Bloomfield, the NRL’s chief medical officer attended the game and Toovey believes his presence put pressure on Dr Tan to withdraw Cherry-Evans.

“The doc thought he may have been concussed so he got the trainer to go out and take him off,” Toovey said.

“They knew that the chief medical officer from the NRL was here tonight – was on the sideline and they don’t want to be liable for anything.

“It’s crazy … everyone is worried about getting sued, being fined or not doing enough. I am confused by the whole situation.

“I want to look after the players as much as anyone, but it’s very tough to decide what is the right thing for the player and the wrong thing.”

A Jason Nightingale try and four Gareth Widdop kicks sealed the win for the Dragons and coach Paul McGregor said he was delighted with how his side defended to keep the Sea Eagles down to just four points.

“To the boys’ credit that is 160 minutes of footy and they have only let two tries in,” McGregor said.

“The goal-line defence, energy and enthusiasm was great tonight.

“Defence is attitude and we have certainly got that. We turned over a bit of ball tonight, but for those blokes to keep fighting was a credit to them.”