Sydney Roosters coach Trent Robinson has admitted he was mostly happy with a halves switch during a narrow one-point win on Anzac Day over the St George Illawarra Dragons.

Robinson made the surprise call in the lead-up to the Round 8 clash with the Dragons to send Sam Walker back to reserve grade, moving Luke Keary to halfback and Joseph Manu to five-eighth from the centres.

Walker's form had been mixed to start the season, and a desire to have Manu touch the ball more often seemed to fuel the move, which propelled the Roosters to a badly-needed win over the Dragons.

The tri-colours had dominated the early exchanges of the game, before the Red V fought back with three tries in eight minutes to tie things up at 26 a piece.

A late Luke Keary field goal iced the game for the Roosters, and Robinson said the veteran had earnt the medal for player of the game.

"I felt like attacked really well to be honest. I think that's why he won the medal," Robinson said.

"I think it was a bit harsh [him winning the medal] on the bloke next to me [James Tedesco], but I felt like he did really well moving the team around, creating opportunities, moving the team around. On that side of the ball, he was really good."

Tedesco agreed, saying the control Keary played with allowed he and Manu to put on good performances - Tedesco ran for over 200 metres and terrorised the Dragons at times throughout the contest.

"He was awesome," Tedesco said.

"Me and Joey [Manu] are instinctive players and want our hands on the park. Keary had to lead the team around the park and let me and Joey play a bit of footy.

"He has done it before. He is very experienced. He was really important for us in that role, led us around well and had some great touches of the ball as well."

Robinson admitted there were things to work on with Manu's move into the halves however.

"I felt like he was searching today. He was good at different times, and worked hard to find his way into the role," Robinson said on Manu.

"That ended up in some nice footy, and then some one-out play, so it looks like there is some stuff to work on there."

Asked if he would keep the combination next week, Robinson admitted he was unsure. Walker is understood to have taken the demotion to reserve grade well during the week, but an inconsistent performance for the NSW Cup side where he was outplayed by opposite number seven Jayden Sullivan will leave Robinson unsure of whether to make the switch or not for next week's trip across the Tasman.

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"Don't know," Robinson said when asked whether his halves combination would be changing again moving forward.

"I made a call for this week, but you know, it's a tough one. You've got injuries in the backline and a few different things to throw up there, but I'll make that decision tomorrow. I'll have a look tonight at how it went, and make a call tomorrow.

"It's a tough week when you make a call like that because of the scrutiny that goes to everybody. It's hard to tell everybody that you believe in somebody by putting them in reserve grade, but that's the truth. It's not the end of the world going to reserve grade and playing."

Potentially adding to the headache and dillema for Robinson is an injury to Daniel Tupou, who is set to spend time on the sideline.