Less than two months from the NRL finals, St George Illawarra halfback Ben Hornby admits the Dragons are still experimenting with tactics to get the best out of departing skipper Mark Gasnier.

At a time when most premiership contenders are finetuning their game before the business end of the season, the Dragons remain in "pre-season" mode with Gasnier struggling to adapt to his new roving role in attack.

Gasnier, who confirmed during the week he would accept an offer to play rugby in France with Stade Francais, appeared lost at several stages in the Dragons' 19-12 loss to Canberra in Wollongong last Sunday.

He was badly caught out of position while defending on the wing in the lead-up to Canberra's opening try and struggled to make much impact from fullback in attack.

Regarded as the finest centre in the game, Gasnier showed just how dangerous he can be out wide when he set up the final minute try for winger Brett Morris, who crossed after the Test ace had dragged in three defenders.

Gasnier presented no such danger in the middle of the field, but Hornby said the Dragons would persist with the game plan which he admitted was a least "two or three weeks" away from bearing fruit.

"It's still early, we just didn't hold the ball for long enough and build enough pressure [against Canberra]," Hornby said.

"We think it can work for us. Time will tell, we'll keep working at it and we think we can get the best out of having Gaz get the ball in his hands a bit more … we'd like to think two or three weeks we'd probably sort it out, we're probably looking at that sort of time frame.

"Obviously it's going to take a little bit of time."