HAWTHORN coach Alastair Clarkson is keen to gauge what effect new rules to be trialled in the NAB Cup will have on the game and maintains his side will be ready if they carry over into the premiership season.

Three new rules – the most radical of which is a free kick paid for a deliberate rushed behind – are in contention for permanent approval if they are deemed a success.

"We've given a fair amount of thought to that over summer," Clarkson said following the club's season launch in Hobart on Thursday.

"The NAB Cup is a great opportunity for the AFL to trial rules. I don't think anyone's really certain – just like with the point kick-ins and the changes to the centre circle – of the outcome of what will happen to the game when some of these changes come in.

"That's why the NAB Cup is there – to explore the impact they have on the game and we'll watch with a lot of interest … just what impact they have on the game."

The other two rules under consideration are the 'no-go' zone in the centre square designed to limit the umpire's exposure to accidental contact and a 50m penalty against any player preventing an opponent from taking part in the next contest or passage of play.

This final rule change would appear to be of particular interest to Clarkson given a feature of the Hawks' rolling zone last year was its pressure on the ball carrier limiting free-flowing opposition ball movement. 

The coach, however, was unfazed by the development.

"It's not too much different - it's just an interpretation of the rule," he said.

"If players are being held in any part of the ground then they should be penalised and I think it will just be policed a little bit more stringently as it should.

"The game continues to evolve and the AFL continues to be right at the forefront of trying to manage it as best they can in terms of all the different little trends that occur in the game from time to time.   

"The AFL's been at the forefront of making the game as good a spectacle as it can be and if they think that a rule change like the rushed behind is going to make the game a better spectacle then as a group of coaches we're right behind that.

"The NAB Cup campaign will be an interesting time to see how that all unfolds."