Coach Nathan Brown has been singing the praises of the pairand they backed him up again on Friday night.

Ryles said Poore was just starting to find his feet again after struggling with injury last year.

``[Poore] had a shoulder injury and is getting better with every game,'' said Ryles after St George Illawarra ground out a two-point victory over Manly at Brookvale Oval.

``We work pretty well together and with Dan Hunt and the other guys coming off the bench, they had a lot of impact after we came off.

``[My form] has been steady. I'm just looking to contribute as well as I can every week. It was certainly relieving to win the way we did. We have certainly been putting the same effort in each week, but we got a bit of luck [on Friday]. There were four games where we lost by a total of 13 points which showed how close we have been.''

The Dragons have now climbed to be two wins outside the top eight.

``Even though are not sitting on top of the ladder, the morale is pretty high considering how we are going,'' Ryles said.

``Certainly [the wins] are going to help us on our way up and to keep building. Our errors are the main things we have to clear up. We can't keep doing that against quality opposition each week and, hopefully, our defence stays as strong as it did.''

Incoming coach Wayne Bennett has set his sights on Country representative backrower Chris Heighington. The Wests Tigers player has a significant offer from St George Illawarra and is set to make a decision later this week between joining the Dragons or another club, or staying with Wests.