FRUSTRATED Dragons boss Dean Ryan says the wait for news about contract offers for Wales duo Cory Hill and Ross Moriarty is holding up his recruitment drive, writes Chris Kirwan.

The Rodney Parade region are targeting a handful of signings for next season but of prime concern is the futures of lock Hill and back row forward Moriarty.

The pair are out of contract this summer and are in talks with the Welsh Rugby Union, as they will be on Wayne Pivac's list of 38 Test players.

A new funding model will see the governing body pay 80 per cent of the chosen players' wages but their salary offers are decided by a panel and both Hill and Moriarty feel that they are being undervalued and lodged appeals.

READ MORE: Dragons chairman in the dark over Hill future

Director of rugby Ryan says the Test duo will shape who he targets in the transfer market, and how much he will have at his disposal to tackle areas of weakness in his squad.

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"We haven't got huge sums of money and we are still waiting for resolutions over people who are in contract negotiations with the WRU," said Ryan.

"That's got a significant impact on some money that we get and we are still a significant lump of money behind everybody else.

"They are significant players and it's significant funding, so the impact on a region like this would be huge.

"We've been waiting nearly six months now so clearly there are other timelines that I am not aware of."

The Dragons have endured a back three crisis this season and are currently down to the bare bones in the front row.

Looseheads Brok Harris, Aaron Jarvis and Ryan Bevington are all injured, leading to a first PRO14 start for Josh Reynolds against Benetton last weekend.

The 21-year-old from Newport was backed up by on-trial Irishman Conor Maguire and the Dragons, who have this weekend off before a crunch run of away fixtures against Ulster, the Scarlets and a European Challenge Cup quarter-final at Bristol.

"We don't have the resources, let's be really honest about that, so we are about developing some youngsters and that means they have to learn really quickly," said Ryan.

"We don't have the funds to replace players with people that have seven or eight years (of experience)."

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Reynolds performed strongly in the 37-25 loss to the Italians, scrummaging well and setting up a try with a 40-metre run and offload.

"Josh was outstanding and sometimes we can't miss those things that are going on just because another area of the team is not working very well," said Ryan.

"Aaron Jarvis is not available at the moment and we had a lad come in, Conor Maguire, who has basically put his hand up to see if he can get a shift. That's where we are because we have got no money."