FOUR games into the season is a little early to be sounding the alarm bells but Newport Gwent Dragons could undoubtedly do with a shot in the arm tomorrow night.

It’s been a spluttering, error-strewn start to the campaign, three bright young backs who gave so much hope are crocked and already there is a gap in the Guinness Pro12 to teams seen as rivals.

History is repeating, leaving you fearing the same old, same old: a ninth or tenth-placed finish looks on the cards with the odd high-profile scalp at Rodney Parade thrown in.

The Dragons seem to be treading water, which is why the home game against Treviso needs to be a win, ideally with a bit of Argentina-style fun thrown in the mix for fans who sat through a 13-0 joyless success against Zebre last month.

For those of us in the northern hemisphere the distraction of the World Cup is gone and focus can return entirely to domestic matters.

And sadly some August hopes are already looking dodgy, albeit we are just four games in and three of those have been away for the Dragons.

The pre-season expectation was that Lyn Jones’ side would be embroiled in a battle with the three sides who finished above them last season.

A top-half finish – a first since 2005 – was the lofty ambition, in the process repeating last year’s effort of avoiding the tag of Wales’ worst.

Yet there is already a gap of 11 points to Connacht, Edinburgh and the Scarlets, leaving plenty of early catching up to so.

The opening rounds of the schedule has been challenging with traditionally tough away trips to Galway, Dublin and Glasgow.

All three were missed opportunities with a solitary point from the loss in Connacht. Leinster, without their Ireland stars, was grim viewing. Glasgow, without their Scots, was much, much better but still frustrating.

But it’s not necessarily the results that has caused the deflation, losing three young guns leaves you to ponder whether the Dragons’ targets are already unattainable.

It is a huge blow to be without the services of Hallam Amos, Tyler Morgan and Jack Dixon until the New Year and others simply have to try and fill the void.

They, along with fellow young local lads Elliot Dee, Ollie Griffiths, James Benjamin, Ashton Hewitt (who has been excellent so far this term) and Joe Davies, are at the heart of hopes for a brighter future at Rodney Parade.

The trio of Amos, Morgan and Dixon were central figures as 2014/15 sparked into life last season, providing exciting moments and playing with exuberance.

They put smiles on faces. They put bums on seats.

The hope was that they would kick on after being involved with Wales over the summer but instead the best we can hope for is that they will play a part in a late season charge.

It’s up to an experienced pack to make sure that by then it’s not too late because previous claims of this being a young Dragons side learning how to be winners no longer wash.

The starting front eight in Glasgow contained seasoned campaigners Boris Stankovich (35), Brok Harris (30), Rynard Landman (29), Nick Crosswell (29), Lewis Evans (28), Ed Jackson (28) and Nic Cudd (27).

Only 21-year-old hooker Elliot Dee could be considered wet behind the ears while the half-backs were 31-year-old Super Rugby veteran Sarel Pretorius and 26-year-olf Jason Tovey, who has 147 Dragons appearances and a record 865 points to his name.

With Europe rapidly approaching the veterans have to stand tall over the coming months if Dragons supporters aren’t to suffer traditional winter despondency at the prospect of a season going nowhere.