AN INSPIRATIONAL Anzac-themed speech by coach Nathan Brown was behind St George Illawarra's shock 26-6 win over the high-flying Sydney Roosters at ANZ Stadium yesterday.

After a performance that prop Jason Ryles described as the Dragons' best "since the days of Trent Barrett and Luke Bailey", the players credited Brown's speech for inspiring their first win in five weeks, and the coach admitted any other result would have doomed their finals prospects.

Ryles's fellow prop Justin Poore, who implored Ryles not to quit the club after the Herald this week reported he may be part of a three-way trade involving Cronulla pair Ben Ross and Brett Kimmorley, said Brown's words had a strong impact on the players.

"Nathan gave us an inspirational talk before the game that made me feel really good," Poore said. "He spoke about the Anzac traditions and how they bind as a family. It really pumped us up. My pop fought in the war, so it meant a lot to me."

With just one previous win this season, Brown and skipper Mark Gasnier revealed how important the win was to the besieged Dragons. Having now beaten the Titans and the Roosters, Gasnier said the players' confidence would be boosted as they move away from the bottom of the ladder with another two points guaranteed next weekend from a bye.

"When you're one from six, every win is important, and it was against quality opposition," Gasnier said. "But I think the most pleasing thing was the effort from one to 17 - there wasn't one guy out there who didn't contribute."

Brown added: "The Roosters are probably in the top two or three sides as far as their roster is concerned, and the guys showed that there is light at the end of the tunnel. We've been in this situation before, myself and some of the players, and we've fought our way out but we've also been in this situation before and haven't come out of it so today should give the guys some confidence."

But despite their poor start to the season and the club's decision to axe him and his coaching staff at the end of the season, Brown insisted there had been no morale problems within the team and said that if things had gone their way, the Dragons could have had at least two more wins over Cronulla and Canberra.

Another loss, however, would have made their chances of a finals berth a tough proposition.

"It definitely would have been getting tougher," Brown said. "You can't talk yourself into the eight or talk yourself into form but we can take some confidence out of today and build our season on today's game. If you could buy confidence in a schooner glass, you'd go to the pub every day and just turn up for the game."

With the representative teams to be named on Sunday for the Centenary Test and the annual City-Country clash, Brown urged the selectors to pick Ryles and Poore, while Roosters coach Brad Fittler suggested halfback Mitchell Pearce and five-eighth Braith Anasta should not be penalised for the side's loss.

"Two of the form front-rowers in the comp have been Ryles and Poore, and they got over an international forward pack today," Brown said. "For some reason, some supporters and some people in the media just like to jam Jason Ryles but he's been great. He's been playing good and so has Justin Poore."

Ryles, who said Poore had played one of his best games in five years at the Dragons, was vague about his future, despite having two years to run on his contract. "I'd like to stay but in saying that I am open to what my manager can come up with," he said.

A relaxed Fittler described the Roosters' loss as a "reality check", saying: "We had a pretty glorious start to the season, where we played some big games and some upbeat games and we rose to the occasion. I thought we were fantastic the first four weeks. But we just didn't seem to maintain that intensity and as a group we somehow weren't able to keep the pressure on and raising the bar. It just lowered a bit."