Dragons waiting to ignite Gaz turbine

It has been 661 days since Mark Gasnier last wore the Red V.And Gasnier will have to wait a few more minutes to make his much-anticipated return to the NRL after being included on the bench by coach Wayne Bennett yesterday.Bennett resisted the urge to unleash Gasnier on Penrith at WIN Jubilee Oval tonight, with a doubt over the star centre's fitness to make it through a full game.Versatile Thirroul junior Matt Prior will start in the right centre position, but is expected to switch to the front row during the top-of-the-table clash to make way for Gasnier.Dragons captain Ben Hornby said he expected Gasnier to receive a rousing reception when Bennett injects him into the game.However, he warned his team-mates not to rely on Gasnier's brilliance in attack and to maintain the consistency that has taken them to the competition lead."The crowd will be pretty excited so I'm sure we'll get a lift out of that," he said."But if we're not playing well it's not going to matter."It's great to have him back - obviously we're good friends."He's slotted in great, he'll get better, it's his first week of training and playing and it will be a big test."Gasnier, who left for French rugby after third-party sponsorship deals fell through in 2008, will be on the bench alongside props Jarrod Saffy and Trent Merrin and second-rower Nick Emmett.Former Toyota Cup star Jake Marketo is the 18th man.New Zealand international Jeremy Smith's horror run with injury has continued after aggravating a calf injury. Smith sat out yesterday's training session in Wollongong.The 30-year-old has played seven games this year, including the past two games, having battled knee and calf problems."We're not taking any risks with him at this stage of the year," Hornby said.Dragons second-rower Ben Creagh, who was dropped for Wednesday's third State of Origin clash in Sydney, left yesterday's training session early.But Hornby said Creagh was a certain starter tonight."We're just monitoring his (training) loads at the moment," Hornby said.St George Illawarra are without NSW Origin duo Brett Morris and Beau Scott as well as Queenslanders Darius Boyd and Neville Costigan.Penrith are missing Petero Civoniceva, Michael Jennings and Michael Gordon, while Luke Walsh is out with a hamstring injury and Travis Burns is in doubt with a similar problem.