Simon wary of Hull's potential

Simon, 32, takes his title-chasing Steelers team into Hull on Sunday night (6pm), hoping to avoid a repeat of the 7-2 battering they received on their last visit back in early December.

Player-coach Sylvain Cloutier has turned his hastily-assembled team into play-off certainties with the main aim now being a top-six finish ahead of league newcomers the Braehead Clan.

But Simon – whose Steelers team have lost only once in 13 games – believes Cloutier's line-up should aim even higher and are capable of breaking into the top five of Cardiff, Sheffield, Belfast, Nottingham and Coventry, who have dominated the league since its inception in 2003.

"I read something this week about where Hull are shooting for sixth spot and how that would be very respectable for them," said Simon, whose team have won the three other contests against their Yorkshire rivals this season, two of which were in the Challenge Cup.

Listen to Ben Simon look ahead to Sunday night's clash against Hull by clicking the green PLAY button at the top of the page.

"But I think they are even better than that. They have the talent and the depth and I think Clouts does a great job of holding guys accountable there which is why I believe they can go higher.

"Last time we were there, we scored two early goals and I think we thought that because we'd had success against them previously we had the game locked up.

"But they came back and really took it to us and, while some of our guys possibly didn't have their best games, Hull were the better team that night and totally deserved to win."

Read and listen to Hull player-coach Sylvain Cloutier's thoughts ahead of the Yorkshire derby by going HERE

Sunday night's clash is the first of three in 11 days between the Yorkshire rivals. Hull travel to Sheffield on Wednesday before the Steelers pay a swift return visit to Hull Arena on February 9.

In between those matches, Steelers will be forced to cram another three games in due to another example of bizarre scheduling by league bosses.

After seemingly endless changes, Friday night's televised match at the Motorpoint Arena will now be against arch-rivals the Nottingham Panthers.

The home game against Cardiff had been switched to that date initially but will now be played on february 20 as originally listed to fomr part of a crucial double header between the Steelers and their main rivals for the regular season title.

Another double header - this time against Coventry - with Sheffield at home on Saturday, February 5 before a trip to the Skydome Arena 24 hours later, adds to the workload for what is currently a full-strength Steelers roster.

FORWARD Andre Payette is the new player-coach of English Premier League strugglers Sheffield Steeldogs until the end of the season.

The 34-year-old Canadian, who joined the club in November, replaces Matt Darlow who left the club earlier this week.

Payette's first game in charge is tonight's home match against Telford Tigers (7.30pm) before tomorrow's trip to Peterborough Phantoms (5.30).