Canterbury coach Trent Barrett has dismissed claims his side abused the NRL's HIA interchange rules during their win over North Queensland.
Barrett's side claimed a 6-4 win in Townsville but the debate following their victory surrounded suggestions the Bulldogs had gamed the system to gain an advantage.
The NRL is looking into the last of the Bulldogs' five HIA interchanges involving hooker Jeremy Marshall-King, with a conclusion to the probe expected next week.
Marshall-King was taken off the field in the last 10 minutes clutching his shoulder, but as he stood on the sideline a Bulldogs trainer signalled the New Zealander needed to undergo a HIA which allowed Canterbury a free interchange.
In a radio interview this week, supercoach Wayne Bennett described the Marshall-King incident as "hysterical" and added: "He (Marshall-King) had to be convinced he was knocked out by the trainer. He was no more knocked out than I am sitting here."
But on Friday, Barrett hit back at the suggestion his club would abuse the HIA rules to gain an advantage.
"We follow the protocols directly to the letter from our end," he said.
"It did make the interchanges quite challenging at our end.
"There are independent doctors in the bunker and they're mic'd up to other doctors on the sideline and they came to the conclusion that there was an issue there."
Marshall-King was one of five Bulldogs players - the others being Brent Naden, Braidon Burns, Corey Waddell and Chris Patolo - who went off with concussion-related symptoms on Sunday.
All barring Patolo are expected to line up this Sunday when the Bulldogs host Brisbane.
Part of the reason for the large number of HIAs is due to the introduction of an independent doctor in the bunker who can use different camera angles to spot for signs of concussion.
The independent doctor was introduced because club doctors felt they couldn't monitor every player's condition and they were under pressure from coaching staff to pass players fit to play.
Barrett backed the new system by adding: "We understand that the rules are there to protect the players. I'm certainly happy with the way we handled it.
"It's a duty of care for the players and there will be some teething problems. It was only round one and we'll get better at it, I'm sure."
