Brian McDermott insists there is plenty for Harlequins RL fans to look forward to this season despite their opening-day defeat to Wakefield.

Quins slipped to an 18-10 home defeat in a bruising contest that saw Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook red-carded along with Wakefield’s Richard Moore after a late brawl.

But McDermott reckons it is not all doom and gloom at the Stoop.

He said: “The major goal before the Wakefield game was to find something to build on for the coming weeks.

“We knew we were not going to be at our best considering our injury problems, but we still needed to go out there and find a performance that would give us some encouragement.

“In all honesty I think we did more than that.

“Our defence near the goal-line was excellent - perhaps we made it a little too easy for Wakefield to get near our line but that is something we can work on.”

One definite highlight was the debut of on-loan full-back Ben Jones-Bishop, the Leeds Rhino running in both Quins tries in an impressive display.

And McDermott admits he has a future star on his hands.

He added: “Ben is pure class - no two ways about it.

“He is going to be a big star in the future and we have to enjoy him while he is here.

“I’m not going to start talking about England or anything like that but there is no doubt he will go a long way in the game.”

Quins travel to Warrington this weekend for their first road game of the campaign.

And having blooded Jones-Bishop, Oliver Wilkes and Ben Bolger against the Wildcats, the coach is confident that his side will put up another good display.

McDermott added: “We gave a few people a chance and they responded.

“Things like timing and sharpness will come as the season progresses and the more game time we give to this group of players can only lead to better things.”

Harlequins RL’s next three matches: Feb 7 Warrington (a), 14 Catalan Dragons (h), 21 Melbourne Storm (h)