Cooper, Morris steal the limelight at Gaz's farewell party

Tonight’s derby against the Sharks at Kogarah should have been all about Mark Gasnier.

Instead, centre partner Matt Cooper and left winger Brett Morris stole the show as St George Illawarra humiliated their neighbours 38-8 at WIN Jubilee Stadium.

The highly anticipated showdown was marketed as a farewell to the Dragons’ superstar Gasnier, who announced his retirement at the end of 2011 last Thursday.

However, it was left half of the Dragons’ iconic centre combo, Cooper, who stole the headlines with the opening try of the rout and a trademark hard-as-nails effort in defence.

Morris scored an even more spectacular try in the eight minute before both left-edge predators were denied tries later on in a first stanza the Dragons dominated 24-0.

The closest Gasnier – the nephew of Dragons Immortal Reg Gasnier – came to scoring was in the 76^th minute, when he was forced to pass to Jason Nightingale before being bundled into touch.

Gasnier – who will walk away from rugby league for the second time with three years and leave a seven-figure sum on the table – had to content himself with hit-ups out of dummy half and first receiver.

Although he didn’t get a fairytale four-pointer in his regular season farewell to Kogarah, the Dragons faithful amongst the 16,879 on hand gave him a stirring send-off.

“It was a good way to farewell Kogarah, I didn’t touch much ball and I went to that side a couple of times but it was a great team performance, it will put us is good stead with the semi-finals approaching,” Gasnier.

“If we keep getting results like this, I couldn’t care less how much ball I get, they’re (Cooper and Morris) are a great combo.”

Gasnier said the Dragons spiritual home at Kogarah meant ‘everything’ to him.

“I played under 7, under 8, under 9 grand finals here and it’s great to be able to leave on the right note,” he said.

Cooper, who was named man of the match in a rare stint as captain in the absence of Ben Hornby, paid tribute to his centre partner.

“It was good to see him get a win tonight, he’s been a big part of Kogarah,” Cooper said.

“It’ll be good to see Ben Hornby and Dean Young back in a couple of weeks.”

Gasnier has scored 90 tries in 161 games with the joint venture since making his debut in 2000.

He scored the opening try of last year’s drought-breaking grand final win over the Sydney Roosters.

He has played 11 times for NSW and 15 Tests for Australia.