Introduction
Bevan French (born 4 January 1996) is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who currently plays for the Parramatta Eels in the National Rugby League. He plays at fullback and wing. French is a Indigenous All Stars representative.
Background
Born in Tingha, New South Wales, French is of Indigenous Australian descent and played his junior rugby league for the Tingha Tigers. French is the nephew of former Australian international and St George Illawarra Dragons winger Nathan Blacklock.
Playing career
Early career
At the age of 15, French began playing for Tingha's first-grade team at fullback, playing against men twice his age.
Early in 2013, French was pursued by 6 NRL clubs; Parramatta, Melbourne, Newcastle, the Gold Coast, Penrith and St. George Illawarra. He eventually signed for the Parramatta Eels, stating that he chose the club because he "just had a feeling". In 2015 and 2016, he played for the Eels' NYC team. In 2015, he began the season at five-eighth, before moving back to fullback for the remainder of the year, finishing the season with 16 tries in 22 games. On 11 July 2015, he re-signed with the Eels on a 3-year contract to the end of the 2018 season.
2016
In February, French participated in Eels' 2016 NRL Auckland Nines tournament win, scoring 8 tries in the tournament, the record for most tries in a Nines tournament. He was also named in the team of the tournament. In Round 12 of the 2016 NRL season, French made his NRL debut against the Newcastle Knights, scoring a try in the 20-18 win at Hunter Stadium. In Round 15, against the South Sydney Rabbitohs, French scored his first double in the Eels 30-12 win at ANZ Stadium. In Round 17, against the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks, French scored his first hatrick of tries in the Eels 34-24 loss at Shark Park. In the last 2 matches of the regular season, French switched with Michael Gordon to play from the wing to fullback, lighting up and he scoring 2 hatricks in 2 weeks in a row in the Eels 30-18 win against the St George Illawarra Dragons and 40-18 win against the New Zealand Warriors. French quickly went on to be a try-scoring sensation in his debut season the NRL, being the club’s highest try-scorer with 19 tries in 13 matches in the 2016 NRL season.
2017
On 10 February 2017, French represented the Indigenous All Stars against the World All Stars in the 2017 All Stars match, playing off the interchange bench in the 34-8 win at Hunter Stadium.