Veteran Marshall full of praise for "impressive" rookie Grant

As Benji Marshall sees it, there's probably a few good reasons why Harry Grant is top of the Dally M leaderboard.

It's hard for hookers to shine as they do much of the clean-up work around the ruck as well as drag down players running straight up the middle.

But the army of "We Love Harry" fans is growing weekly for the 22-year-old.

"Great kid - keen to learn - does all the little things. He won't say it but he analyses the game pretty closely and about how he can manipulate the ruck," Marshall said.

"He's quite smart in that area and brings a lot to the table when we start talking game plans and stuff.

"For a young guy that's pretty impressive. He pretends he's not a footy head but he is," the 314 NRL-game veteran said.

"He's in there doing a lot of work with our attack coach and Madge [coach Michel Maguire] of how he can be better. That's the sign of a young player who's going to be around for a while - the keen ones who don't think they know everything.

"He had a lot of raps coming here so there was quite a deal of pressure on him to perform coming straight into first grade. And he's delivered."

Marshall may have had a firm grip on the controls in the 48-0 win over the Broncos last Friday night, but it was Grant who got the chants when he went off for a rest midway through the second half.

"He plays a style that suits us - gets out and runs a bit, threatens the line. He's been our best player," Marshall said.

"He told me on the weekend 'They were chanting my name so does that mean I'm taking over as the king' [of Leichhardt]? Then he went and sat on the scoreboard and got a photo and sent it to Robbie too to tell him he's taken over that as well.

"Fans want to see their players go out every week and have a real dig. Every game he's making tackles, putting on something in attack ... if they make a break he's there making a cover tackle.

"It's the competing side of rugby league that your fans want to see and that's why he's a fan favourite."

Marshall is attracting even more followers for his resurgence.

The 35-year-old said he's enjoying a renewed confidence, despite being dropped by Maguire earlier in the month to work on a few things.

"Sure he's made some tough calls but with our team you can see the habits are really improving there. I copped the brunt of it," Marshall said.

"It's fine. I got to go back and look at the things I felt I needed to improve. 

"On the weekend I've never felt more confident about my game."