Braith Anasta's maturity as Sydney Roosters captain has earned him the ultimate compliment, with halfback Mitchell Pearce comparing his leadership to the great Brad Fittler's.

Anasta's captaincy has been one of the driving forces behind the stunning Roosters revival that has taken them all the way to Sunday's NRL grand final against St George Illawarra.

It was Fittler who controversially gave the former Canterbury star the job over Craig Fitzgibbon mid-season last year.

Now, Pearce says he now resembles his old boss, who captained the Roosters in four grand finals including the 2002 victory.

"If Braith wasn't playing you'd feel a bit empty and that's a great credit to him and the influence he's had," Pearce told AAP.

"I've definitely noticed him become more ruthless in his leadership and he takes control when the big plays are on - that's the sort of stuff you see with the great players of the game.

"He's starting to remind me of a Brad Fittler at the end of his career and that's a massive wrap.

"Just the way he talks to the boys before games and his manner around the joint, it's something to look up to."

Anasta says the secret to his success as a skipper is his relationships with his players, and treating the role as a fulltime gig.

"(It's about) how can you get the trust of your players, the players to want to come to you or talk to you or be comfortable around you," said Anasta.

"It's a fulltime job just earning that first and if you can do that then everything will fall into place.

"With relationships, you've got to treat it as a fulltime job and you've got to be thinking about it away from the footy field and away from the training facilities because it's 24-7.

"I probably didn't treat it like that when I first got it. I just treated it as I come to training, I'm captain, I play in the game, I'm captain.

"But it's at all times.

"I've probably improved as the season's gone on - earlier in the year was pretty tough on me, I was struggling with injury and I didn't train the whole pre-season so it was pretty hard to lead from the sidelines."

Coach Brian Smith describes the 28-year-old as a natural leader.

"He's mushroomed with all the responsibility and the opportunity that it's created for him," Smith said.

"He's a very impressive human.

"He's had the opportunity to play under some very good captains at some great clubs, but it's in him - it's in his character."

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