THE Dragons have firmed in wooden spoon betting following their disappointing Charity Shield loss to South Sydney - and Steve Price’s coaching future is sure to ride on how well his side starts the NRL season.

Price has a contract until the end of the year but already speculation has started as to who could be in line to take over if the Dragons fail to turn around their fortunes over the opening six weeks of the premiership.

The TAB yesterday cut their price from $8 to $6 to finish the season with the most losses – with the Dragons only trailing joint spoon favourites Wests Tigers and Canberra ($4) and Parramatta ($5) in the most dreaded betting market.

“Given how disappointing the Dragons were and the injury to Josh Dugan, they have firmed to finish with the most losses,” TAB’s Matt Jenkins said.

News_Image_File: Dragons coach Steve Price issues his players with instructions during a training session.

The Dragons looked pedestrian in attack against the Rabbitohs on Saturday night - and while most expect it will take time for new buys Gareth Widdop and Sam Williams to work on their halves combination, more concerning was their attitude at some stages.

Skipper Ben Creagh went as far as to question his team’s “commitment” after a loss that had the Red V’s army of fans fearing this was going to be another long season for one of the game’s proudest clubs.

Some of the tries Souths scored were just too easy for NRL football, and while the final scoreline ended up 38-20, the Rabbitohs were cruising 22-4 at half-time and they went into the game without regular halves Adam Reynolds (knee) and Luke Keary (pectoral).

Price has been under pressure since taking over from Wayne Bennett in 2012 and his winning record in two years stands at 37.5 per cent.

News_Rich_Media: Dragons fullback Josh Dugan has set his sights on regaining his place in NSW's State of Origin side this season.

Dragons fans were understandably underwhelmed at Saturday night’s performance but club boss Peter Doust didn’t return The Daily Telegraph’s calls yesterday to gauge his thoughts on what expectations are for the year ahead.

Dugan will have scans today to determine the full extent of his knee injury but the fear is he won’t be fit for the start of the season.

The Dragons first round clash is against fellow battlers the Tigers on Sunday week at ANZ Stadium and after that they face the Warriors (Eden Park), the Sharks (Remondis Stadium), the Broncos (WIN Stadium) followed by the Rabbitohs (SCG) and the Storm (AAMI Park).

If the Dragons don’t start with a bang, most expect Price will be lucky to survive.

Price has had a tough initiation to NRL coaching given the Dragons had an ageing roster following their 2010 premiership win and they have lost a stack of top players since - but in 2014 Price finally has a squad of his own making and he now needs the results to turn around.

Originally published as Coach counts heavy Price of failure