A legacy St George Illawarra Dragons coach Steve Price carries close to his heart Dragons coach Steve Price wearing his grandfather's war medals. THIS story is about war, mateship, destiny, love and the sanctity of family. The reason we're telling it is because of a game of footy, but if Steve Price needs to put any of that into perspective - and believe us, he doesn't - it will be right there with him in the coach's box this afternoon. It will be right there, pinned to the right breast of his Dragons blazer, in the shape of the war medals left behind by his late grandfather Vincent Cullen. "I used to take this game in my stride because I was so focused on what was happening on the field," the Dragons coach says ahead of today's Anzac Day match against the Roosters. But this will be the first time I will wear the medals to the game - as a mark of respect. This story starts with war. Vincent Daniel Cullen was enlisted into the Australian Army on June 18, 1940, at the age of 20. In November of that year, he and the rest of the 2/1 Pioneer Battalion arrived at Suez and disembarked at El Kantara in Palestine. In March, 1941, he was transferred to the 18th Australian Infantry Brigade, where he became part of the famous Rats of Tobruk, who lived and fought in tunnels in some of the most bloody battles of the Second World War. They were horrific conditions. Years later, Vince often told the story of the day the well dried up in Tobruk. One of the soldiers eventually climbed down into the well and found the bodies of two Italian soldiers. The Australians had been drinking from the well for months. Tobruk is also where Vince found Edmond Day, a 40-year-old Welshman from Maclean in Northern NSW, who'd served in the British Army during the First World War in a Welsh regiment. For years after the war, Vince always said Ted Day was his best friend, because Ted Day treated Vince like a son. As Price explains now: "They always promised each other that if anything happened to one of them, the other would go back to their family in Australia and offer their condolences. That they would support each other's family. On June 25, 1941, Ted died of wounds suffered when he and others were victims of a direct artillery hit. Vince wrote to the Day family, and upon his return to Sydney he honoured his promise to his mate. He knocked on the door where Ted's family were waiting for a father and husband who was never coming home. "Pop went back and knocked on the door and a young lady answered the door by the name of Bessie Day," Price says. As time went on, my Pop started to take out Bessie's daughter, Eve. Then they married in 1946, after the war. She was my grandmother. Vince - who was better known as "Cagey" and "loved a schooner" - fought in New Guinea and lived to 85. He barely mentioned the war. "He would get upset whenever he did," Price says. Yet Price says his family has never forgotten him, or his special friendship with Ted Day and how it shaped them. It's why the coach has attended the dawn service in the city for the past few years, and why he will take his three daughters to the dawn service in Cronulla this morning. He will then go and coach a game of footy, and despite winning the past three matches this season, the result against the Roosters could potentially tip his future either way. Victory could expedite a contract extension. Defeat could tighten the uncertainty around his tenure, which grows every time Dragons management doesn't endorse him publicly. Consider Price's lot. He has followed Wayne Bennett, forced to sit idle as the club hounded down and ultimately failed in signing Craig Bellamy, and is now hearing loose speculation about Brad Arthur taking his job. A Dragons board meeting on Tuesday night failed to shed any more light on who will lead the famous club next year. Affable and more assured with a season under him, Price merely continues to shrug off the uncertainty. "I'm not too worried about any of that," he says. I know if I'm true to myself and I'm true to my men and true to my football club, that will take care of itself. I honestly know that. I can guarantee that. I'm working harder than I ever have. I can't work any harder. I'm just that driven to do well. It's made me a lot stronger person, what's happened. Especially since the start of the year. Before the final training session yesterday, Price showed video of the Anzac Day game when the Red V dug deepest, when halfback Mat Head nailed a sideline conversion with minutes to go in 2005 to seal victory. Then he told his players to place it in perspective. "We're fortunate because of these great people to be living in this country," Price says. I spoke about it to the boys after our last training session. I said, 'They've set it up for us and our children.' It's important they continue that tradition. Price continues to honour the memory of Vincent Cullen, right there on his chest.