BEVAN IN HEAVEN
Flier loving big stage after year of park life
BEVAN FRENCH was playing on park fields in front of 200 people a few weeks ago – now he has a packed Old Trafford in his sights.
Wigan’s explosive Australian utility back has burst on to the Super League scene, scoring four tries in his first four games, including a hat-trick against Catalan Dragons last week.
French originally shone on the NRL stage with Parramatta, but spent this year in reserve grade with Wentworthville Magpies after being frozen out at the Eels.
Now he has forced his way into a Wigan side who will finish second if they beat Castleford tonight, ahead of a play-off push to defend their title at the Theatre of Dreams. And he will use his experiences from earlier this year as fuel for the upcoming post-season campaign.
French said: “If you were playing at the stadium before first-grade games then the crowds would be good, but some weekends you’d be on a park and there would be 200 people there.
“That’s a challenge in itself. Sometimes players can rely on atmosphere to bring energy and it was a good test for me going from playing in front of NRL crowds to not so many people. You have to find something inside yourself to bring that energy out. The year playing in front of not really anyone has helped me because I found a way to get motivated for the game.
“Going from that to playing at Old Trafford would be insane – to end up playing in a Grand Final after that would be some feeling.”
French’s coach Adrian Lam believes the player will add an extra dimension to his side in their Grand Final push.
Lam said: “He can be an X-factor for us without a doubt. Anybody that watched him the other night would get goose bumps watching him play. If you’ve seen the Australian guy Steven Bradley in the speedskating Olympics when he was coming last and they all fell over and he won the gold medal – that’s what it looked like.
“It looked like Bevan was on skates and they were falling over around him.
“I just looked at the assistant coach and we were both like, ‘Wow’. Hopefully he’ll put bums on seats next year.
“I think he’ll be an absolute sensation for the Super League, just with the pure speed he’s got.” KICK-OFF: 7.45pm. TV: Sky Sports.