Getting the best out of Benji Marshall is shaping up to be one of the biggest challenges for St George Illawarra caretaker coach Paul McGregor.
But the former joint-venture captain says all he needs is time.
Marshall put in an indifferent performance in his first outing for the Dragons, a 36-0 thrashing at the hands of Parramatta.
But McGregor is adamant the former Wests Tigers superstar still has the skills that made him one of the game's leading players and they are returning day by day.
"It is fresh for Benji, he hasn't had a lot of rugby league training over the last six months," McGregor said.
"We just have to have time and be patient with him, we all know he can play football and each time I see him out on the football park he is improving."
McGregor said in Marshall's first game his five errors made headlines.
"But what about his two try assists that got pulled back?
"It could have been two try assists and three errors and we are talking about how good he is so, be patient."
Marshall has been named at halfback in McGregor's side to play the South Sydney on Monday.
He didn't play for the Dragons feeder club the Illawarra Cutters during last weekend's bye, but McGregor was confident Marshall would be ready for the Rabbitohs.
"We had a couple of hard training sessions last week, they trained Monday, Tuesday, Friday," he said.
"So it was either train Friday for a real raw physical session or play him Saturday in a second-tier competition and those in charge thought the training would be harder than the game and he looked pretty sharp today."
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