WELSH Rugby Union chief executive Martyn Phillips admits they won't be flinging extra cash on the Dragons squad but they will be bolstering the backroom staff to give the current crop a better chance of success.

The governing body will officially take over control at Rodney Parade next week but have already made a big change with the appointment of Bernard Jackman as head coach.

The Irishman inherits a squad that was stretched in 2016/17 as they finished with just Zebre beneath them in the Guinness PRO12 and ended the campaign with 12 straight losses while the spectre of the vote on their future loomed over them.

Previous boss Kingsley Jones was only able to add two fresh recruits, former Wales fly-half/centre Gavin Henson and ex-Springboks utility back Zane Kirchner, while lock/flanker Nick Crosswell, prop Craig Mitchell, hooker Darran Harris, wing/full-back Tom Prydie and full-back/fly-half Geraint Rhys Jones have left.

Jackman has pledged to wipe the slate clean and give all of his squad the chance to impress in pre-season while Phillips is keen to give the players more backing.

The Dragons have operated with a skeleton backroom crew for a number of years and the WRU will invest to provide more bodies and enable those currently on the support staff to concentrate on their primary jobs.

Phillips said: "You don't get too many chances to have a really good look at everything and say 'let's make sure it's as right as we possibly can'.

"I wouldn't read too much into that, that can sometimes be exactly the same people, sometimes it's a few changes, sometimes it's about playing to strengths.

"One of the things that I have noticed here is that there are a lot of guys covering a lot of bases and they are doing two or three jobs, sometimes they drift away from the thing they are really good at.

"I think Bernard will see that in the coaching set-up, so we will make sure he gets the right support to have the right backroom staff and the right quantity of backroom staff.

"We are unlikely to invest a huge amount in the squad but we will likely invest in the backroom, particularly this year, to give the players every chance to succeed.

"We definitely want to have the right structure off the field here, but I should point out we've had a lot of conversations with all of the regions about what the right off-field looks like."

Phillips is currently working towards appointing a successor to Martyn Hazell as chairman and the new man or woman at the helm will then choose a fresh Dragons board.

"What we don't want is a board of rugby people. You want somebody from business, somebody who gets Gwent and different perspectives. The richer the diversity the better the board, but the best people get the jobs," said the WRU chief.

The new Dragons regime raises the possibility of the governing body having a conflict with the other three members of Pro Rugby Wales, the Ospreys, Cardiff Blues and the Scarlets.

"It's obviously a risk but I kind of like stuff like that," said Phillips. "We are working well with the other regions, we had a good session last week with the chairmen and CEOs looking at what the next iteration of the pro game in Wales looks like.

"We are working on that as a collective. I have to think quite a lot about making sure we operate in that space effectively and the only real risk for me is that we over-index on the support we provide for the Dragons.

"My job is to make sure we provide better support for all four and right now I feel pretty confident we will be able to do that."