RUGBY LEAGUE
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Dragons hardman Michael Weyman has implored club bosses to commit to Steve Price long term, insisting he would be happy to play out his St George Illawarra career under a "great mate".
Not part of the Dragons' travelling party which jetted out to Cairns in preparation for their trial with North Queensland, Weyman followed captain Ben Creagh's lead in reaffirming his support for Price.
Creagh endorsed the embattled Price as the man to remain at the helm of the Dragons at last month's Charity Shield launch.
Weyman, on track to play some part in the Charity Shield stoush with Souths next Friday night, said the Craig Bellamy saga had had little impact on the playing group.
He even went one step further, claiming he hoped Price would be in charge of the Dragons while ever he was wearing the Red V.
"Pricey is a great coach - I'd love to have him around for as long as he can be ... as long as I'm playing anyway," Weyman told the Mercury.
"I really enjoy the way he coaches and he's a great mate of ours as well. That's the beauty about Pricey - he's a great mate as well as a coach.
"When he's hard he's hard and when it's time to relax he can be relaxed.
"Great coaches are like that - they know when to draw the line," he said.
Price's coaching career received a stay of execution when Melbourne Storm supercoach Bellamy shunned a deal worth more than $5 million over five years to revive the Dragons.
Weyman, 28, denied the constant speculation had taken a toll on St George Illawarra, who face a daunting start to their 2013 season.
"Pre-season is a hard slog regardless, and if you start to listen to outside influences away from what we can control it makes it even harder," Weyman said.
"The season starts in two weeks' time and we can only control what's in our control. That's all that we've been focused on."
Weyman also threw his support behind the Australian Crime Commission report into doping and match fixing in elite Australian sport.
Six NRL clubs - Manly, Cronulla, Penrith, Newcastle, Canberra and North Queensland - all admitted they had been investigated by the ACC.
"If it's going to clean the game up, I'm all for it," said Weyman, who admitted he had never suspected a rival player of using performance enhancing drugs.
"We've got a great competition about to start and I don't think it's going to change the start of the season.
"Everyone is really solely focused on getting out there and starting the season as well as they can."
The one-time Kangaroo said he could only be days away from making a return from a knee reconstruction which sidelined him for the majority of last season.
Dragons medical staff have tentatively penned Weyman in for a cameo against the Rabbitohs after he resumed full training recently.