IT WASN'T long ago that Connacht, Edinburgh and Glasgow were seen as peers by Newport Gwent Dragons. Now they seem to be moving into the distance.

Granted, it is still ridiculously early in the Guinness Pro12 season but the men from Galway are just a point back on the Scarlets with a solitary loss to their name. Pat Lam is doing an exceptional job.

Edinburgh, European Challenge Cup runners-up last season, have started pretty strongly and look a well-organised and rugged team, if a little dour.

And Glasgow, who the Dragons used to have the wood on, are now operating in a completely different league, chasing back-to-back titles and aiming to thrive in the Champions Cup. Their 41-strong squad for Europe features a whopping 34 internationals.

The trio are showing real ambition from the top of the organisations to the bottom while one fears the Dragons are treading water.

It wasn't meant to be this way. After a sluggish start to last season, this time Lyn Jones' side were supposed to be pushing their way into the mix for Champions Cup qualification.

Ignore for one moment that the powerful premier European tournament is unsuitable for the squad at Rodney Parade, at least being involved in the battle to be with the elite would be a sign of progress.

Yet already this season has a look of the familiar; it will be a big shock if the Dragons are not in a bottom four battle.

It's a bottom five at the moment but one assumes the Ospreys will sort themselves out with Dan Biggar, Alun Wyn Jones, Justin Tipuric and Paul James helping them climb into mid-table, even if the play-offs looks beyond them after a nightmare start.

However, the Dragons are likely to be in a tussle with Cardiff Blues again to avoid the tag of Wales' worst with the two sides also attempting to avoid the embarrassment of an Italian team finishing above them, something that has happened just once to both of them when Treviso enjoyed a super 2012/13 to end up seventh.

No wonder Taulupe Faletau fancies a fresh challenge and the Dragons need to sort themselves out if they are to stop the next generation following.

What is being done to prevent Hallam Amos, Tyler Morgan and (currently uncapped) Jack Dixon following the likes of Luke Charteris, Dan Lydiate and Ian Gough in moving on in a few years?

What is being done to convince the trio, whose absence through injury has undoubtedly added to the cloud currently over Rodney Parade, that the Dragons match their ambition?

It isn't' enough to say, 'you're from the area and came through the ranks, stick here rather than going an hour down the road'. If things stay the same then I'm sure the Wales management team will be having a few quiet words about where the trio need to be to progress.

And what is being done to convince, for example, Exeter utility back Phil Dollman, Saracens loosehead Rhys Gill, Bath lock Dom Day or Bristol full-back/fly-half Matthew Morgan that Rodney Parade is a suitable destination should they choose to return to Wales?

It's a familiar tale because the lack of investment. We are frequently assured that brighter times are ahead because of the young talent on the books.

Previous coaches Darren Edwards and Rob Appleyard told us that the short-term pain would see long-term gains; current boss Lyn Jones promises that 'seeds have been sown'.

There are undoubtedly some promising players on the books, as we will see when the British and Irish Cup gets under way next weekend, but long-suffering punters have waited long enough.

The next two weeks at Rodney Parade could well define whether it's another wasted year.

Lose to Ulster and those above them in the Pro12 will be disappearing into the distance.

Lose to Sale and their fate in Europe, which saved the Dragons' season in 2015/16, will probably depend on winning away in all three of Castres, Pau and Salford.

The grim familiarity of a season of mixing it near the bottom with the odd high profile scalp looms while in Galway, Edinburgh and Glasgow they are thinking bigger.