French and Handley tipped for leading try scorers

The new Super League season is just around the corner. In just over a week the top teams in England, plus the Catalans Dragons, will battle it out for 2021 glory.

There are plenty of markets that you can place bets on in the Super League. One of those is who will be the top try scorer – and the leading candidates are Bevan French and Ash Handley.

French is 13/2 favourite for leading try scorer in the 2021 Super League. There are plenty of other markets available to bet on, and odds will be updated throughout the season.

The Australian will be hoping for another successful season at Wigan. The Warriors won the League Leaders’ Shield last season with 13 wins out of 17 regular season match.

French was in excellent form throughout the last season, scoring a total of 13 tries. That put him joint second in the top try scorer’s table alongside Tom Davies of the Catalans Dragons. Top of that list was Handley, more about him later in this article.

As for French though, he may still have a few nightmares about the mistake that led to St Helens scoring the winning try in the Grand Final. He’ll be out to make sure that this season, Wigan go all the way and win the Grand Final.

It’s not surprising that French scores so many tries. This is a player with scorching speed that gets him past the best defences in Super League. The way that his feet dance, he should be entering Strictly Come Dancing.

Overall, French scored 17 tries for Wigan last season in just 21 matches. It’s not just for the Warriors that he has been a prolific scorer of tries. In his early career, he played 47 games for Parramatta Eels and scored 35 tries. Wigan fans knew what a great signing the club had made when he debuted in 2019. Eight games that season saw him score six tries.

His impressive 2020 Super League season resulted in him being named the Players’ Player of the Year in Wigan’s end-of-season awards night. French was also voted the Rugby League Writers’ and Broadcasters’ Association Player of the Year. No wonder, therefore, that Wigan gave French a new deal for this season and the number one jersey.

Leeds Rhinos only finished fifth in the 2020 Super League but had the top try scorer. Ash Handley was in great form for the Rhinos last season and will be hoping to repeat that in this new season. Leeds lost to Catalans Dragons in the first round of the playoffs, so will be looking for more tries from Handley this season.

His performances in 2020 followed a successful season in the previous year’s Super League. 2019 saw him score 22 tries in a much longer season than 2020. His achievement in being the top try scorer in the 2020 Super League was a historical one. He became only the seventh player in the history of the club to finish top try scorer.

If Handley is to be the top try scorer of the season (he is currently at odds of 15/2), then keeping fit is essential. Missing games will see others scoring tries and getting a jump on you in the table. Therefore, it’s a slight worry that Handley picked up an injury in a pre-season friendly against Huddersfield Giants. He twisted awkwardly and had to leave the field of play.

He suffered a medial injury, and it’s not known how much time he will miss. With only a few days to the start of the new season, he could miss some early matches. That’s one of the hazards of placing top try scorer bets; an injury can come along at any time, especially in a tough sport like rugby league.

Hopefully, it won’t be too long before Handley makes his return. He’ll be raring to go when he does return. That doesn’t sound like good news for the other clubs in Super League.

A close battle is expected for the top Super League try scorer. It’s a great market to bet on, especially if your selection is in the kind of form you expect them to be in. With Handley on the sidelines, French may well get an early lead. Can he keep it, though?