The Tingha ace played his first NRL game at fullback as the Eels defeated Manly 20-12 at Lottoland on Sunday.

French crossed for a try in the 26th minute, but it was his general positional play and impact which illustrated he has handled the shift from the wing with aplomb.

He made 72m from 10 runs, bobbed up with a pair of line breaks and was safe when placed under pressure in what coach Brad Arthur described as a hard-fought success.

“It is a tough place to come down and grind out a win,” Arthur said.

“I thought both teams went at it, and we probably need to give a fair bit of credit to Manly.”

French was the lone of the region’s exports to enjoy an opening round win.

Scone’s Adam Clydsdale featured as the Canberra Raiders lost a heart-breaker to North Queensland in Townsville on Saturday night.

The back-up hooker got 14 minutes of game-time, making two runs and seven tackles, as the Raiders finished 16-all at full-time, only to go down during golden-point.

The Cowboys sealed the points through a Gavin Cooper try which came after Johnathan Thurston’s attempted field goal hit the crossbar, but the ball remained alive in-goal.

Aberdeen’s Tyler Randell (Newcastle) and Farrer alumni Matt Allwood (New Zealand) missed out on the 17-man squads as their sides squared off in an entertaining 26-22 contest won by the Warriors at Mount Smart Stadium on Sunday.