Harlequins RL centre Paul Sykes insists his best is still to come 12 months after injury almost wrecked his career.

The 25-year-old suffered kidney damage in last season's 10-6 Super League win at Hull FC in March 2006.

Since spending most of that campaign on the sidelines, the former Bradford Bull has struggled to find the prolific kicking form that helped make him the supporters' player of the year in 2005.

Sykes, who has racked up six tries since the start of the season, admits his failures with the boot started to affect the rest of his game.

"I have had a couple of tough kicks, which hasn't helped, and I think it has affected me," he said after Friday's defeat at Leeds.

"When you have missed a few, even on the easiest kicks the posts can sometimes seem minute.

"With Henry Paul and Rob Purdham able to do the job, it seemed right to step down.

"I want to focus on my game and make sure all my energies are on that to get back to where I was.

"I could have had a lot more tries if I hadn't made a few mistakes.

"I'm hoping for a top-six finish.

"We have got a good young side and provided we stick together I think we'll do well."

A poor start cost Quins in at Leeds, but Sykes insists they can recover from a run of four straight defeats.

"Leeds are a big side and it is disappointing because we could have won it but for a couple of dropped balls," he said.

"If you look at it, across Super League everybody is beating everybody, so a good run can put us right back in the frame."