The health of players and the after effects of concussion have come under the spotlight in recent weeks with revelations about the effects of head knocks on long retired players.
Joseph said the franchise had more than half a dozen players concussed from games involving the Highlanders and their development sides so far this season as the side had to be cautious when players suffered head knocks.
"The whole awareness around concussion has increased greatly and it is an important part of the game and we are really sensitive around that,'' he said.
"There is a lot of talk around the long-term effects of head knocks and the players have much better education around that.
"Players are now getting removed by specialists who want to assess players who may have been knocked out.
"Players are well aware when they have been hit and need to be assessed. It's not like the old days, when you took a big hit [and] just got up and kept going.
"You look at players like Ben Afeaki, who had a whole series of headaches, and ended up having to retire. So it is not a good thing.''
Lock Joe Wheeler, loose forward Dan Pryor and second five-eighth Tei Walden are all still unavailable for play this week after picking up concussions in the past couple of games.
Prop Josh Hohneck picked up a concussion in a development game last week and was also scratched for tonight's match.
With the Highlanders having only six days to prepare for tonight's game, players had to be ready by the start of the week for full training which gave Wheeler, Pryor, Hohneck and Walden little chance of being available for tonight's game.
Rules introduced last year - and more stringently enforced this season - put a medical specialist on the sideline of every game, with the power to take players off and check them for a possible concussion.