Preview: Hull
v St Helens (Round 7)

Hull centre Kirk Yeaman, engage Super League?s in-form player, is hoping to lift his game to new heights when he comes up against Australian star Jamie Lyon.

The head to head between Yeaman - player of the month for February - and the reigning Man of Steel is a mouth-watering contest within a contest as table-topping St Helens seek their first win at the KC Stadium.

?Playing against someone like Jamie Lyon always brings the best out of me,? said 22-year-old Yeaman, who is being tipped for Great Britain honours.

?I consider him to be the best centre in the world over the course of the last year and it?s a great test of my ability to come up against him at the top of his form.

?I always raise my game against the better players ? people like Jamie, Keith Senior and Martin Gleeson ? and I think my performances have shown that.

?I have started the season well and am pleased with the tries I have scored but I still feel as though I have a lot of improvement in me.?

Yeaman, who scored seven tries in his first three matches, is joint top of the try-scoring chart with Warrington winger Henry Fa?afili, and his early-season form has caught the attention of Saints coach Daniel Anderson.

?Kirk has had a very good start to the season,? he said. ?I have a very high opinion of him as a player. He?s a very brave and tough player but Jamie relishes challenges.?

Saints have conceded in excess of 30 points on each of their four previous visits to Hull but winger Ade Gardner says upheaval in the camp was to blame for last year?s 44-6 hammering, which came in the wake of Ian Millward?s sacking.

?It?s pretty tough there,? he said.

?The last couple of times have not been helped by some outside factors but everything is fine in the camp now and we?ll give it our best shot. We?ve no excuses.?

While St Helens defend the only 100% record in the league, Hull look to make amends for their shock defeat by Harlequins in their last home game three weeks ago, although they got back to winning ways at the expense of Wakefield last Sunday.

?Hull are probably down a little bit on the way they?d like to play,? said Anderson.

?I?ve got a high opinion of them as a team. I watched a lot of them last year and thought they were always difficult to break down.

?They?re a very honest, hard-working team and they?re very good at home. It?s a bit of a fortress there for them.?

Hull v St Helens, KC Stadium, Friday March 21

Hull 18-man squad: Blacklock, Briscoe, Brough, Carvell, Chester, Cooke, Domic, Dowes, Hill, R. Horne, King, Lupton, Radford, Raynor, Thackray, Tony, Whiting, Yeaman.

St Helens 18-man squad: Gardner, Lyon, Talau, Meli, Pryce, Long, Cunningham, Cayless, Wilkin, Sculthorpe, Roby, Bennett, Hooper, P Anderson, V Anderson, Graham, Hardman, Fa?asavalu.

Ref K Kirkpatrick