THE future of Radnorshire-based ex-Wales and Lions flanker Dan Lydiate is yet to be decided after he didn’t feature on the Dragons’ list of leavers.

The Rodney Parade club, who play their final game in Newport of the season against the Stormers on Friday night, have confirmed that nine players will be heading for the exit at the end of the campaign.

However, the list does not include Lydiate, who returned to the Dragons last summer on a one-year contract after leaving the Ospreys.

The 36-year-old has played nine times since returning from World Cup duty and the the County Times' sister paper the Argus understands the club could be keen to extend his stay if the terms are right due to his off-field influence.

Wales tighthead Leon Brown is also out of contract and earlier in the season was linked with Bristol but some sort of incentivised agreement could be made after another injury-hit campaign.

The prop has played just four times for the Dragons this season – he has hit double figures for his club just once in the last four campaigns – and won his 24th cap against Scotland.

There are also question marks over the future of Wales hooker Bradley Roberts, who arrived as a high-profile signing from Ulster in 2022 in a bid to boost his Test hopes.

The Dragons have Elliot Dee as their first-choice hooker backed up by James Benjamin, Brodie Coghlan and youngster Sam Scarfe.

Head coach Dai Flanagan has been busy in the recruitment market with the signings of Shane Lewis-Hughes, Solomone Funaki, Steve Cummins, Harry Wilson and Chris Hollis while he also secured new deals with Wales stars Aaron Wainwright, Taine Basham and Rio Dyer.

That means they have to balance the books with some departures and other retentions on either reduced terms or incentivised deals.

The Dragons had already announced that stalwart Jack Dixon had retired from professional rugby while the writing was on the wall for Argentina scrum-half Gonzalo Bertranou and centre Max Clark, who are on loan at Cardiff.

Popular loosehead Aki Seiuli will also be leaving along with back rower Sean Lonsdale and centre Sio Tomkinson.

Wing Corey Baldwin, who joined last summer from the Scarlets, has already been granted an early release from his one-year contract to play Shute Shield rugby in Australia.

Scrum-half Lewis Jones has been a fringe figure this season and will move on along with senior academy tighthead Nathan Evans, who made his debut at Munster in November and is poised to feature for Newport in the Premiership final this weekend.

Head coach Dai Flanagan said: “It’s always a difficult time of any season when players depart, and we thank them all for their commitment and dedication during their time with us.

“Every single player has had a role to play for us and we wish them all every success for the future and look forward to welcoming them back to Rodney Parade soon.”