 On 7 August, French was demoted to reserve grade by coach Brad Arthur after a number of mixed performances.It came in the wake of French speaking to the media a week earlier declaring he was open to the idea of leaving Parramatta if he was not given a chance to play fullback.At the start of the 2019 NRL season, French was left out of the Parramatta side as coach Brad Arthur went with Blake Ferguson and Maika Sivo as the preferred wing options and Clint Gutherson as the preferred fullback.