FORMER Ospreys tighthead Dan Suter is on trial with the Dragons as Bernard Jackman looks to add to his front row options.

The 24-year-old was released by the Liberty Stadium side at the end of last season and has been training with the Dragons at their Ystrad Mynach base.

Suter made his regional debut at Rodney Parade in the Anglo-Welsh Cup in January 2013 and later that year was a member of the Wales side that lost to England in the final of the World Rugby U20 Championship.

He went on to make 33 appearances for the Ospreys but wasn't offered a fresh deal at the end of last season after falling behind Dmitri Arhip, Brian Mujati, Rhodri Jones and Ma'afu Fia in the pecking order.

Suter will try and impress new head coach Jackman and forwards coach Ceri Jones, who have Brok Harris, Leon Brown and Lloyd Fairbrother as their senior options.

Promising Wales Under-20s prospect Christian Coleman, 18, faces four to five months out after undergoing summer shoulder surgery while 15-times capped tighthead Craig Mitchell was not offered fresh terms after one season with the Dragons.

Suter would provide more cover in a key position that has seen Harris shoulder a heavy burden since arriving from South Africa in November 2014.

The former Stormers front rower has racked up an incredible 76 games and started in 22 of 32 fixtures in all competitions last season.

Highly-rated powerful Brown, who made his regional debut at Leicester in the Anglo-Welsh Cup last November and trained with the Wales squad last autumn, will be looking to have a big season after the 20-year-old's 2016/17 was ended by an ankle injury suffered when playing for Cross Keys in January.

Fairbrother, 25, had a solid season as Harris' back-up and is back in training after suffering a knee injury just minutes into the Judgement Day tussle with the Scarlets at Principality Stadium.

Former Ireland hooker Jackman has admitted that the set piece needs to improve if his side are to be able to play his planned more expansive style.

"If we can't improve our scrum then we will struggle to implement the type of game that we are going to play, so it's high priority," he said last month.

"But everything is high priority – 11th in the league means there weren't many things that we were excelling at.

"Unfortunately, and this is the truth, there is not really an area of the game where we are in the top four. To be a top team we need to have areas where we are better than the rest."