St George Illawarra's creeping confidence in 2008 has been mirrored in the game of their fullback Brett Morris, who put some early season clangers behind him on Friday night to score the game-clinching try in the Dragons' 20-18 NRL win over Manly.

Morris, who missed most of 2007 with injury, was on hand in the 75th minute on Friday night to grab a neat pass from twin brother Josh and set up a match-winning conversion from Jamie Soward.

The Dragons didn't play well but they have now won back-to-back matches for the first time this year and three of their last four games, the only loss in that run a heartbreaking one-pointer against Parramatta.

They surged from 13th to ninth on the ladder and have now beaten the competition's top three sides - Gold Coast, the Sea Eagles and the Sydney Roosters.

Coach Nathan Brown and captain Mark Gasnier both spoke of the slow build-up of confidence at the club, something sure to be boosted by the inevitable arrival in first grade of dual international Wendell Sailor.

"A win like that I think really does build a bit of character amongst the club and give the guys confidence in one another to hang in there and we'll come through with it," Gasnier said.

Fullback Morris, 21, has copped his fair share of criticism in 2008, for several handling blunders in particular, but on Friday night showed some of the same signs as his club.

"I think just being out of the game for so long, it does your head in a bit," Morris told AAP.

"Especially with the season I had in '06, I had a pretty successful season, so to miss '07 and just sort of come back I was a bit down.

"But getting a couple of games under my belt, I'm sort of getting my confidence back every week and just trying to improve.

"Especially with the timing, I was a bit out there at the start. It's all coming back to me ad hopefully I can start playing some real good footy and get more wins and make the semis." Morris said his side's belief had been bolstered by the wins over the NRL's big guns.

"We know we can match it with the best, it's just how we show up on the day," he said.

"We've just got to play to our game-plan, play to our abilities and we've shown we can beat the top teams.

"We've just got to keep doing it every week, get the tough wins, get the hard wins." The Morris twins are the sons of former Dragons halfback/winger 'Slippery' Steve Morris.

There was a hint of twins' telepathy in their combination to score Friday night's clincher, but Brett is going to have to get used to Josh not being around next year when the centre joins the Bulldogs.

"I suppose it will be hard in the pre-season not having him there because the last three or four pre-seasons we've been together and looked after each other and got on the weights together and pretty much done everything together," said Brett, who is signed with the Dragons until the end of 2009.

"It's going to be tough but when we play them I won't be too sad.

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