MARTYN SADLER pays tribute to the inaugural winner of the Rob Burrow Award
BACK in 2016 I was watching an NRL match involving Parramatta Eels when a young player appearing for them in his first season burst through the opposing side’s defence and, showing tremendous speed and footwork, scored a sensational try.
The young man was obviously going to be a future star in the making.
Not long after that I recall speaking to Leeds Rhinos chief executive Gary Hetherington, recommending to him that he take a look at this young player, whose name was Bevan French, and suggesting that he might like to keep him on his radar for the future if he should ever decide to play in England.
I also asked Gary why the Australians seemed able to come up so regularly with players who grace the game with the qualities that French demonstrated that day, and which were again on display in Saturday’s Grand Final.
French only spent three years with Parramatta, suffering an injured shoulder early in 2018 that hindered him for the remainder of the season and appeared to affect his confidence. Later that season he was demoted to reserve grade by then coach Brad Arthur, who is now at Leeds, and he was left out of their 2019 squad, instead playing for the Wentworthville Magpies in the NSW Cup.
His first-grade career seemed to be ebbing away. But then he signed for Wigan in July of that year, making his debut ironically against Grand Final opponents Hull KR.
Since then, Parramatta’s loss has been Wigan’s gain. French has now joined an exclusive club of players who have won each of the three major individual awards available in Rugby League – the Man of Steel, the Lance Todd Trophy and the Rob Burrow Award (formerly the Harry Sunderland Trophy).
He becomes the fourth player to win all three after George Nicholls, Joe Lydon and current St Helens coach Paul Wellens.
And he is the first player to win the man of the match trophies in the Challenge Cup Final and Grand Final in the same year.
Apart from creating the highlight of the game with that stunning first-half try, French made 31 tackles, ran for 172 metres, including 138 metres across the gain line and 27 metres post-contact.
He received the ball 31 times, passed it 20 times and kicked it once, forcing a goal-line drop-out.
He made two line breaks and 15 tackle busts (all stats supplied by Opta).
French was clearly emotional after the game, having been told by the club the day before the game that it had arranged for his brother and uncle to fly in from Australia to see the game.
“It’s been an emotional week,” he admitted to Sky Sports’ Jenna Brooks.
“We knew history was on the line, being the first to go all four (Super League, League Leaders’ Shield, Challenge Cup and World Club Challenge) in the calendar year.
“This one just meant more. The club went above and beyond to surprise me by flying my brother and uncle over. It’s special, I’ll never get to feel like this again.
“It’s a pleasure to be a part of this club, not only for now but throughout this year, the past four years and for the next four years.”
And despite his own brilliance, he emphasised that it was defence that won the game for Wigan.
“This is the second Grand Final in a row where we haven’t conceded a try. It’s great to achieve this, but collectively it’s the defence that has definitely won it for us,” he said.
French had been the 7/2 favourite to become the first winner of the Rob Burrow Award with title sponsor Betfred and it was deeply moving to see Rob’s father Geoff present the trophy to him.
He won 26 of the 32 votes from members of the media, with the other six being split equally between Harry Smith and Luke Thompson.
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