The NRL have eased the bill on the three clubs charged with concussion protocol breaches last month, suspending more than half of the $350,000 worth of fines.

But Newcastle, St George Illawarra and the Gold Coast will still each be fined $50,000 for the round-three incidents, with the remainder still hanging over the head of each club for the next year.

It means the Knights and Dragons have had half of their $100,000 fines suspended, while the Titans will only immediately owe one-third of their $150,000 sanction.

After reviewing submissions from each club, the NRL said it took into account that last month’s breaches were their first such offences.

In a letter to each of the clubs, the NRL said chief executive Todd Greenberg emphasised they had not questioned the integrity or professionalism of their medical staff.

“We acknowledge the difficult job they face in the modern game and we are exploring ways to provide more support to our medical officers,” Greenberg said.

But he said the tough stance had to be taken – and that he had been pleased with the competition-wide response since the original sanctions were announced.

“All clubs have acted responsibly to remove players from the field for head injury assessments and we hope and expect that will continue,” Greenberg said.

“These penalties are another reminder to all clubs that player safety is vitally important and we will take a tough stand against any breach of the head injury assessment rules.”

In each of the instances, the clubs were found to have contravened the NRL’s head injury assessment protocol.

The Titans were at the time the hardest hit over their treatment of Kane Elgey, Joe Greenwood and Ryan Simpkins in the club’s win over Parramatta.

Newcastle and the Dragons were then later in the spotlight on the same weekend, when they kept Brendan Elliot and Josh Dugan on the field respectively, after apparent head knocks.

The three clubs will now have a chance to either elect to take their cases to the NRL appeals committee or accept the fines.