Having lost the game's best coach in Wayne Bennett, and one of the game's best fullbacks, Darius Boyd, St George Illawarra have their work cut out this year.
Rookie coach Steve Price has enormous shoes to fill, however, he seems to have wasted no time in putting his stamp on the Dragons. This is a good sign.
Having worked under Bennett for the past three years, Price will have learnt a lot about his premiership-winning mentor's principles of coaching. And while the first thought for most would be ''don't change a thing'', it's not that simple. For example, although the lessons Price has learnt about defensive structures and completion rates will be vital, losing the team's most lethal attacker, Boyd, means the coach must make serious adjustments in order to replace what Boyd was providing.
With his ''signature second-man play'' down the left side of the field, Boyd was the Dragons go-to man when breaks and tries were needed. It would be a mistake to keep the same structure and hope Boyd's replacement, Kyle Stanley, could handle this role. In truth, the only other fullbacks in the game who can do this play as well as Boyd are two of the game's best players in Brett Stewart and Billy Slater.
Therefore the Dragons must find other ways to score points. Looking at their structure in the Charity Shield a fortnight ago, it seems Price has gone ahead and made considerable adjustments to the way the Dragons will attack this season.
With no Boyd in the side, Price had five-eighth Jamie Soward, halfback Ben Hornby and fullback Stanley, all running the ''Boyd second-man play'' at different times. It was clear the Dragons had spent a lot of time on this new structure, which also included Soward and Hornby playing on opposite sides of the field to where they have played for the past three seasons.
These types of adjustments will make the Dragons more unpredictable. Price would be hoping this will not only improve their try-scoring ability but will also make the likes of Soward harder to target in defence.
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