Boss Dean Ryan has spoken about the enjoyment he taken from the challenge at Dragons during his first season in charge.
Ryan was installed as Director of Dragons Rugby at the start of this campaign and has overseen a successful campaign, with notable derby victories and a quarter-final spot secured in the European Challenge Cup.
The future of this league season remains undecided with the Guinness PRO14 suspended indefinitely during the Coronavirus outbreak.
However, Ryan still reflects back with a positive outlook – even if he insists it is development and the environment created, not results, that drive him.
“We wanted to make it a good place to come to work and we wanted to challenge that we would learn in a different way,” he said. “We always knew that our start point was behind everybody else.
“Sometimes results can just keep you battered down all the time because you never get the chance to rise up. We have to look at things very differently.
“Is this a great place to work? For me it's probably the most fun I've ever had coaching. Is this a group that has potential to move on? Is it a group I enjoy working with? Absolutely, we have huge potential.
“The last piece was challenging the environment, to be as supportive as possible, and sometimes that does involve change.
“We have got coaches that are moving on and we have coaches that are coming in that are new, because we have to keep making this a better place.
“We have to keep challenging players to get better, if we've got any chance of continuing the rise up.
“So, when you look at the season, am I happy with those things? Absolutely.”
Looking to next season and beyond, Ryan is determined not to change his ways and place too much pressure on the Dragons.
“I never ever set a marker of where we should be and I've probably got things to learn. I spent my life chasing markers at various stages in the season,” he said.
“We're pretty realistic, we won lots of games in the last minute, or lots of games that were one score.
“For all those results that have been positive for us, there wouldn’t have had to have been a huge amount for them to be negative for us.
“This is a great place to come to work, it is a lot of fun. It is a great group with potential. And I love coming to work.
“Those things are really powerful when you're trying to create a group to start moving forward - they would be the markers I will focus on.”
