Retiring St George Illawarra great Matt Cooper eyes a new challenge in Mixed Martial Arts Matt Cooper has some interesting plans for retirement. DRAGONS star Matt Cooper hopes to soothe the pain of his injury-enforced retirement by becoming the first NRL player to make a fist of Mixed Martial Arts. In a surprise twist to his retirement announcement at St George Leagues Club on Tuesday, the 34-year-old revealed a long-held ambition to confront the brutal world of cage fighting. "I've been doing MMA training for the past six years as a result of changing my routine because of knee and ankle injuries," Cooper said. I'm thinking about doing extra training now that I've retired with the view to having an MMA fight. Cooper now intends to add Brazilian ju jitsu training to his regular sparring sessions with Wollongong-based boxing trainer Brett Harriett. His passion for MMA has blossomed into friendships with top Australian fighters James Te Huna, Anthony Perosh, Kyle Noke and Ross Pearson - all regulars on the UFC circuit in America. "I've been hooked on the sport for a long time and I love the training because it's helped me keep going with footy to this age," he said. While Cooper committed to 2013 being his final season before round one, a toe injury made the 243-game veteran reconsider retirement as recently as last month. "I didn't want to go out as an injured player and I kept changing my mind every day," he said. But then I had a chat with the club and realised it would be selfish to play on for that reason alone. I also spoke with guys like Ben Hornby, Dean Young and Mark Gasnier, who are all happy in retirement. Cooper recovered from the toe injury to make his return in St George Illawarra's clash against Brisbane a fortnight ago, grateful to be a given a five-game swan song. But he barely lasted half the game, suffering a pectoral tear that proved to be career-ending. "Sitting in the sheds at Suncorp Stadium, that was pretty devastating to know I'd played my last game," he said. That was probably the most emotional I've been my whole career. The fact was that I couldn't walk off the field in my last game and it hurt. Following a stellar career that took a surprise detour in SG Ball, when he played a season at prop, the former NSW and Test flyer deserved better. And the Dragons will do what they can to honour the Shellharbour junior before the team's final-round match against New Zealand Warriors at WIN Stadium. "Looking back, there were so many great players that came up through the Illawarra region around the same time," Cooper said. Guys like Benny Hornby, Dean Young, Jason Ryles, Luke Bailey, Trent Barrett, they all played Origin and who knows if we'll ever see another batch like that again? But we've got a lot of good, young kids at the club now and I'm sure that there will be more.