Harlequins RL centre Paul Sykes has decided to hang up his kicking boots for the time being after missing four from four attempts on Saturday.

The 25-year-old is still to find the prolific form that saw him voted supporters' player of the year in 2005 after a kidney injury forced him to miss most of last season.

And Saturday saw skipper Rob Purdham step into his shoes after the former Bradford Bull's radar went haywire.

But McDermott has backed his man, who also scored two tries, to return, claiming his misses were not the reason for Quins' 36-22 home defeat.

"It is a high-pressure job and, if you don't want to do it 100 per cent, the pressure kicks can easily be missed," he said.

"The players came to the decision during the game and Paul has decided it is in the team's interests to step down for now.

"We will be looking at other options this week, but it is not a permanent change and his misses are not why we lost.

"It would have been good to have the extra eight points, but we defended poorly after getting ourselves in a position to win."

McDermott feared the worst when Bradford raced into an early 12-0 lead, but Sykes's double and a try from Purdham brought the home side back into the game.

The skipper's second gave his side the lead within minutes and Jon Wells extended the advantage, before the visitors hit back through Glen Morrison, Lesley Vainikolo and Michael Platt to claim victory late on.

Quins have now lost three matches in a row, despite leading against Warrington and Wigan in recent weeks.

McDermott remains in confident mood ahead of Friday's trip to third-placed Leeds Rhinos, who are undefeated at Headingley so far this season.

"Most teams who allow Bradford to score two quick tries would concede 40 points, but we regrouped quickly and had them on the ropes," he added.

"We are playing well and I think we will be going to Leeds with confidence, because we have pushed some top teams very hard.

"We have got a pretty good defensive unit and, when Scott Hill and Danny Orr click, we are a threat."

Versatile new boys Chris Melling and John Grayshon have made such an impression they will be among the first names on the 17-man team sheet for Friday.

Meanwhile, Australian prop Richard Villasanti is in contention for the trip after recovered from a precautionary knee operation.