IT has got to be positive news to hear that the RFL are working with the NRL in Australia on a review of the interchange rules.

Without pre-empting which way they will go over the next two months - after consulting with coaches, players and clubs - a rolling back of the rules ahead of the 2016 season is on the cards.

It is clear that the expansion of the substitutes bench from two to four from the centenary year of 1995, followed by the increase in interchanges from 2003, has created a different sport than a lot of us grew up with.

Some would say that the ability to keep rolling big men on in 20 or so minute bursts has made rugby league a more predictable, power-oriented game than the one of some 20 or 30 years ago.

There is also a strong argument for player welfare that having 18 stone-plus fellas on rotation colliding into each other non-stop is not healthy long term.

One of the positive aspects of the system before the era of multiple interchanges was that the big men started flagging as the game progressed.

Those that didn’t - the likes of Kevin Ward - maybe deserved the kudos and advantage it earned their team.

But from a spectators’ point of view, one of the big bonuses of seeing the heavyweights run out of steam was the space it created for those entertaining quick men.

Slowly but surely rugby league has evolved into the product we have now.

This year Saints have arguably the best pack in Super League - and their best crop of front rowers since 2006 - and it is fair to say the current situation suits them down to the ground.

Under the current system you would bank on Messrs Amor, Walmsley, Richards, Masoe, McCarthy-Scarsbrook and Thompson to marmalise all-comers for a few years to come.

Tweaking the subs rule would not negate the need for packs to still be strong - packs have always laid the platform - but it would reverse the unhealthy trend towards a pure power game.

The way rugby league was going I was half expecting teams to be allowed to field offensive teams and defensive teams in between turnovers, or having trainers running on to apply oxygen masks.

Whatever happens, substitutions will still be used tactically but any reduction would mean necessitate them being used even more smartly.

And anyone wanting a history lesson on shrewd pre-Super League substitutions should watch the 1978 Challenge Cup Final, with big Roy Dickinson coming on for Leeds to help tame a tiring Saints pack.

If you recall that day Saints' props Dave Chisnall and Mel James did the full 80 minutes of graft, and Dickinson teaming up with Bionic Barrel Steve Pitchford and Blond Bomber Phil Cookson was enough to help Leeds to a 14-12.