Brian McDermott reckons his Harlequins RL side could be on the verge of emerging from their hellish start to the Super League season.

Quins earned just their second win of the season with a deserved 23-16 Challenge Cup win over Wakefield Wildcats on Saturday, earning a fifth round tie with St Helens.

And with Luke Dorn, David Howell and Karl Temata all returning from injury in the clash, McDermott eyes better times ahead.

He said: “I am not going to come out and say this is a springboard or anything like that.

“But the fact of the matter is the squad we have out there now is very close to where we want to be.

“For the majority of this season I have had to come out and say we are just doing the best we can, but hopefully we have turned that corner now.

“The key is always the attitude of the players - you can teach things like skills and fitness in training, but you cannot coach desire or the desperation to perform, and our guys have that in spades.”

Tony Clubb (two), Howell and Ben Jones-Bishop grabbed Quins’ tries as they opened up a healthy lead and then held on against the Wildcats.

And it was the defence that most caught McDermott’s eye.

He added: “In the first half we were very, very good and then we dug in.

“I was very pleased with how we defended as we knew Wakefield were going to give it a crack.

“We were under a massive amount of pressure and we withstood it.

“We got a little bit anxious when we had the ball but we had enough in the tank.

“Now it is a case of going to Wigan and starting again.”

Harlequins RL’s next three matches: Apr 23 Wigan Warriors (a), May 1 Hull FC (Murrayfield), 9 St Helens (CC, h)