MUCH of this season has been about what the Dragons are missing and what will arrive over the summer months.

The campaign was a challenging one in November, in December it turned into a horrible one and in 2018 it has been a nightmare that thankfully is nearing an end.

Problems have been laid bare since the turn of the year with the humiliating loss to a previously winless Southern Kings leading head coach Bernard Jackman to declare: "Sometimes you have to realise how broken something is before you can fix it properly".

To that end, perhaps he is fortunate that the Dragons' super glue man, a player who has helped hold things together on countless occasions, has been absent.

Nic Cudd has made a habit of limiting the damage since heading east in 2012, shedding blood and gaining scar tissue for the cause.

It looked innocuous when the flanker limped off after just 12 minutes as a sub in the final friendly against Glasgow in Ebbw Vale in August, yet damage to his knee ligaments ended his season before it had started.

In what was always going to be a transitional season, that was disastrous.

The Dragons were a shambles in Port Elizabeth a fortnight ago and I seriously doubt that would have been the case with Cudd at 7, a man who still flings himself in when the game is long gone.

Not only that but the openside has the ability to be a momentum shifter in games where the result can go either way.

The 29-year-old deserves to be part of the long-term plans at Rodney Parade even if the Jackman blueprint is to develop so that the Dragons are no longer concerned with just limiting the damage in years to come.

The diminutive flanker may not possess Ollie Griffiths' dynamism with ball in hand or James Benjamin's playmaking ability but he provides the sort of breakdown dog that England boss Eddie Jones would kill for.

But what sometimes goes under the radar is Cudd's leadership qualities, perhaps because he is a quietly-spoken, modest west Walian who just goes about his business.

He is a fine role model for back row prospects Aaron Wainwright, Max Williams, Lennon Greggains and Taine Basham, who he has been helping off the pitch while he diligently goes about his rehab.

He is also a leader on the pitch, someone who doesn't bawl and react theatrically but is smart, makes good decisions and brings the best out of others.

There haven't been enough of those individuals present in recent months with Cory Hill and Elliot Dee with Wales while Brok Harris and Lewis Evans have been on the sidelines next to Cudd.

Filling the leadership void next season will be achieved through recruitment and also through investing in the development of the current crop.

So far this term Hill has been a fine choice as skipper with Griffiths usually his deputy while Benjamin, wing Ashton Hewitt and back row forward Harrison Keddie have also been given a first taste of captaincy.

Lewis Evans, who has been club captain twice, led the team against Edinburgh and the Kings after recovering from his torn pec while Wales wing/full-back Hallam Amos was skipper versus Treviso last season.

But it isn't just about the player who has a C in brackets after their name, the Dragons need players that can think on the move.

That's been a long-term problem and it was around this time last year that then head coach Kingsley Jones brought in former Wales coach Kevin Bowring to hold a workshop with a select group of the Dragons squad.

They discussed how teams and leaders should work, discussing the important of saying and doing the right things at the right time both on the pitch and in the training base.

Leadership is not something that comes overnight and teams with more talent in their ranks share Jackman's problems.

The World Cup is looming and nations have been shown by past winners that it is necessary to have a core of seasoned campaigners who can take the lead by sensing the mood on the pitch rather than relying on what they have been told before leaving the changing room.

"We've always known that we have to improve in our leadership," said Eddie Jones in between England's losses in Edinburgh and Paris.

"That's an ongoing issue for us, and something that takes time and is not solved overnight.

"It takes development, intellectual input, consultation, discussion, and we are doing all those things and moving in the right direction."

Similarly Warren Gatland looked to squeeze more out of Taulupe Faletau by making the world class number eight, sure to go down in history as one of Wales' greatest ever players, the captain against Italy.

"He is part of the leadership group within the squad and it's a good opportunity for him to contribute more," said the head coach.

"He's still pretty quiet so the good thing is that it's going to encourage other players around him to be vocal as well.

"That's something within the Welsh culture that traditionally players have relied on the captain taking the mantle in terms of doing speaking and communicating within the group.

"It's been a big work-on for us for a long time to get others to contribute and this is part of the process.

"He is a world-class player and it's an opportunity to get some more out of him in terms of his leadership building up to (the World Cup in) 2019."

There will be dramatic change at the Dragons over the summer and hopefully a growth of leaders in the camp with tough players who are happy to take responsibility, making decisions and learning from them if they are wrong.

Leadership, and not just from the very top, is vital when things are going wrong and it will be imperative in driving an upturn in results at Rodney Parade.