NOBODY expected miracles at Rodney Parade this season but we all hoped for more than this.

The Dragons are having a shocker of a season with the promise of the opening months dissipating, leaving us with that horribly familiar of doom.

We cling onto the hope for next season and have been promised much better from September but that doesn’t stop the current campaign being a deflating experience, one that makes you want to snooze until the summer.

Perhaps some memorable moments lie ahead, hopefully starting with a win against Edinburgh tomorrow evening, but at the moment it is a plight to have social media wags using the “Stop, stop, he’s already dead” GIF from the Simpsons.

It’s been a nightmare in the Guinness PRO14 and it is only the shift to a conference system that has stopped the gap to everyone else being made even more stark.

The worst team are the winless Southern Kings, who will be eyeing a first scalp against the Dragons next weekend, and then it’s the Rodney Parade region.

Others have improved – Benetton and Edinburgh greatly – while the Dragons have got worse and cannot use last season’s reasonable mitigation of when they played amid the potential doom of the WRU sale being rejected.

This has been as demoralising as 2015/16 when they managed just four league wins from 22 games, although their tally of 10 losing consolation points showed that defeats were narrow back then.

The current campaign has provided just two home wins, against Connacht and the Kings in September, and draws versus Ulster and Glasgow.

That sort of return used to have folk calling for heads to roll but thankfully there is a bit more of a reasoned approach this time around.

After the defeat to Benetton, and awful performance, last Sunday the crowd just trudged towards the exits rather than booing. Such restraint won’t last forever.

Year One of Bernard Jackman’s reign was always going to be a tricky one with a frighteningly thin squad that had been bolstered by just two major signings, veterans Gavin Henson and Zane Kirchner.

It got even tougher when the injuries came thick and fast.

The winter has been harsh at Rodney Parade and there are precious few green shoots visible with just six fixtures remaining.

My cynical side almost wonders whether it’s almost useful to hit rock bottom in 2018 so that improvement can be hailed in 2019.

Another derby whitewash? No problem, a regional win can be lauded all the more when/if it arrives in 2018/19. More away misery? Never mind, point to the improvement next term.

Of course that’s a daft conspiracy theory - no team picked will go over those white lines with anything other than victory in mind.

However, results have been something of an irrelevance, allowing Jackman to use the same familiar phrases that Darren Edwards, Lyn Jones and Kingsley Jones used to utter about youngsters learning from tough experiences and from tasting professional rugby for the first time.

The head coach has certainly been given a unique opportunity of flinging in youngsters pressure-free given that it’s all about 2018/19.

Rio Dyer made his PRO14 debut against Treviso last Sunday, following in the footsteps of Max Williams, Jared Rosser, George Gasson, Aaron Wainwright, Owain Leonard, Lennon Greggains, Joe Goodchild, Josh Reynolds, Dan Babos, Taine Basham, Connor Edwards, Henri Williams and Callum Morris.

But when thoughts turn to next season and pledges are made, there is little incentive in having a current campaign to cherish in terms of results.

It does, however, heap the pressure on for September.

A few wins before we clock off after Judgement Day will be nice but they can’t stop it being a PRO14 horror show in 2017/18.

There have been so few crumbs of comfort that it makes it necessary to answer the naysayers in a comprehensive manner next season.

This season was always going to be a transitional one but it has produced so many alarming disappointments that it is only serving to increase the pressure on hitting the ground running in September.

Sorry Mr Moriarty and Mr Hibbard, you won’t have long to get your feet under the table.

The charity after defeats this season was a one-off.

South Wales Argus:

FOR a man of 22, Tyler Morgan has achieved a great deal.

He has started a World Cup quarter-final against South Africa and won caps against Ireland, Fiji and Samoa, toured New Zealand, played in two European semi-finals and racked up 61 regional appearances.

Yet the centre from Caerleon rather unfairly has a tag of being as robust as a pile of poppadoms.

Morgan has had more than his fair share of injury misfortune, most notably the shoulder injury that he suffered against the Springboks at Twickenham in 2015.

He has had a number of other niggles but it should be remembered that last season he featured in 24 games for the Dragons. In his first full campaign as a professional he made 17 appearances.

Getting a few miles on the clock in 2016/17 seemed to have done the trick when Morgan started the current campaign superbly.

Whereas previously his international call-ups were partly due to the promise that had earned a national dual contract, his autumn inclusion was merited after the rediscovery of his attacking panache and that devastating outside break.

Alas, an ankle injury in the final game before linking up with Warren Gatland’s squad forced his withdrawal and the bad luck continued last week with an innocuous knock when claiming a high ball in training.

Morgan’s season is over after just nine games and now he must concentrate on getting back for a full pre-season.

We all share his frustration because we have seen the promise in the centre since a stunning display against Treviso four years ago, stretching to claim a wayward Lewis Evans pass before sidestepping for a first Dragons try and then turning provider for Will Harries with fast feet and a delightful chip down the left wing.

Morgan hasn't quite lived up to that potential but he remains vital if the Dragons are to turn around their fortunes.

They have many good centres but Morgan is a cut above with pace, power and offloading ability. On his game he would have been a serious option for Gatland in Dublin this weekend ahead of Scott Williams.

Morgan isn’t quite as injury prone as some make out but he would admit that he is far too used to life on the comeback trail this season and the Dragons need his luck to change.