Super League's best named by pundit as star tipped to 'light up' NRL competition

Bevan French has been branded as the 'best player' in the Super League competition, with the Wigan Warriors superstar still tipped to 'light up' the NRL today.

The 28-year-old moved to Wigan from Parramatta Eels ahead of the 2019 season and has scored 99 tries in 115 games for the club to date, including a stunning effort in the Grand Final as the Cherry and Whites defeated Hull KR 9-2 at Old Trafford last month. French was also crowned the Steve Prescott Man of Steel in 2023 and has been instrumental in Wigan’s recent trophy run that has seen them claim the last six honours in the game, including a quadruple in 2024.

And now Mitchell Pearce, who played against French in the 2022 and 2023 seasons while at Catalans Dragons, has labelled him as the competition's best, with French winning the inaugural Rob Burrow award as Man of the Match in the Grand Final. He received the same award in the World Club Challenge after Wigan defeated Penrith Panthers at the Brick Community Stadium.

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Meanwhile, the player is contracted until the end of the 2028 season but that hasn’t stopped talk of a return to the NRL, with Pearce, who made over 350 career appearances, including 19 games for New South Wales, branding French as ‘unbelievable.’

Speaking on the SmartB Sports Podcast, Pearce said: "Bevan French, for anyone who hasn’t been watching Super League, I went to the Grand Final this year where he was man of the match and played against him when I was over there; he’s unbelievable over there.

"Obviously he played at Parramatta when he was in the NRL; he was only a young kid. He’s gone over to Super League, and honestly, some of the stuff—if you get the chance to watch his highlights on YouTube, he’s unbelievable. All those instincts; he’s the best player over there by a mile, and he’s got a great combination with Jai Field there.

"If Bevan French was ever open to going back to the NRL, whether Dragons or another club, I reckon you’d get some pretty good footy out of him. I’d love to see him come back. He’d light up the NRL, I think."

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