Gasniers new role in 2007
Mark Gasnier's kicking game is progressing steadily, according to Dragons coach Nathan Brown.
The Australia and NSW star's switch from the centres to pivot necessitates more than a few modifications to his game.
Part of that change involves shouldering the unfamiliar burden of some of the kicks in general play.
Former skipper and five-eighth Trent Barrett, who has switched to the English Super League to play for Wigan, was the NRL joint venture club's main kicker in general play last season.
Utility Ben Hornby will assume that role in 2007, but the red and whites will still need a back-up kicker.
And that is something Gasnier and assistant coach Kurt Wrigley have been working closely on.
"He's (Gasnier) improving," Brown said after training at WIN Stadium this week. "He knows he's got to work hard. Him and Wriggles (Wrigley) are working pretty hard and he's improved a lot.
"He actually strikes the ball okay. He's a pretty handy, natural sort of player, so he can kick the ball not too bad.
"He by no means is going to be the club's main kicker nor are we going to expect him to kick the ball, say as much as Trent did. But it'd just be nice for him to be able to get a few kicks away and take a bit of pressure off Benny (Hornby)."
Former Raiders hooker Simon Woolford is also being eyed as a back-up to Hornby.
The veteran rake has been busy at training working on kicking out of dummy half.
"He's working hard on it," Brown said.
