SAINTS coach Kristian Woolf expects some of the tweaks to the rugby league laws to alter the game – and will have given food for thought for coaches in the off season.

Although continuing with the emergency law with no scrums caught most of the headlines, some of the six additional new laws have the potential to be game changers and will present opportunities for players to make a name for themselves.

Among the six law changes are a reward for 20/40 kicks and a change to the ball stealing rule.

The 20/40 will complement the 40/20, and will potentially give an under the cosh team a momentum-changing escape route out of their end of the field.

Woolf said: “They are going to alter the game a bit and the 20/40 kick will have to be treated similar to a 40/20.

“You expect your full backs and wingers to have their heads in the play and read what the opposition are doing and be able to work and scramble really hard to stop that from occurring.

“At the same time, if the opposition are able to nail one of those, we have built a real resilience in our defence and our on-line defence and would back ourselves to defend that.

“It is something we are going to have to be aware of, but we will back ourselves either way.”

And another potential game changer, which coaches will be instilling into their players, is that the ball can now be stolen from the player in possession when there is only one defender effecting the tackle.

This changes the rule whereby a defender would be penalised for stealing the ball if other defenders had been involved in the tackle then dropped off.

“I am accustomed to the three-man peel or ball steal with it being in the NRL with me in the last couple of years," Woolf said.

“It is something I have dealt with before in the NRL and had a bit of a plan around. It is going to change the game a little bit.

“It is designed to make the game exciting – which it does when someone pulls it off.

“But you do get those situations where two blokes are fighting for the ball and it ends up being a slow play-the-ball and a bit messy, with knock ons and penalties.

“It is going to be interesting, but as a ball carrier you need to be aware that it could happen at some time. And as tacklers you need to have a plan on how and when it might work for you.

“It will be interesting to see if it improves the game.

“You will have seen this in the NRL, with the Raiders the best side at it in terms of making it work.

“Josh Hodgson is one of the best in the NRL and when I was working in Newcastle we had to make a point of that to be aware of that against Canberra.

“Some teams will take that on and you will see someone become really good at it.”

In thre early days of Super League Halifax's Gavin Clinch earned the nickname of 'Clinch the Pinch' for his ability to rip the ball in the tackle.