The next NRL club to chance their hands at moulding Tevita Pangai Junior into an out-and-out superstar could well be the Dolphins, with the teamless spotted with Redcliffe staff as the Queensland outfit demolished the Dragons on Sunday.
Pangai Junior has been in the rugby league wilderness since walking away from his $750,000-a-year deal with the Canterbury Bulldogs to try and build a boxing career.
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While most of the rumours in the preseason revolved around “TPJ” eventually joining the Brisbane Broncos, especially after he linked up with Queensland Cup team Souths Logan, the whispers have since turned to Redcliffe.
Those same suggestions lifted several decibels after Pangai Junior was spotted with several Dolphins staffers this weekend.
While The Sporting Base has yet to hear anything official on that front, the move certainly makes sense; the ex-Bulldogs forward has been chasing more tutelage from Wayne Bennet for some time.
They most recently worked together in Brisbane before Bennett was sacked in 2018.
Whether Bennett wants to add TPJ to his forward stock this year remains to be seen, though with Connelly Lemuelu, Ray Stone, and Tom Giblert all ruled at right now, it certainly wouldn’t hurt. The NRL supercoach has been happy to talk about the topic recently too and even watched the 28-year-old’s rugby league return when he played for Souths Logan in round one.
“I know Tevita very well, I know what he can do. He is a wonderful player and I’ve got a lot of time from him. He can play,” Bennett told The Courier Mail, before quickly admitting the enforcer’s first outing hadn’t wowed him quite as much as Karmichael Hunt had been. “I saw the game as well, I wasn’t as impressed as his coach.”
“There’s a big opportunity there,” he then added, “and we’ve got a really good balance in our cap and we’ve got money in our cap to spend on quality players—that’s what we’re trying to achieve.”
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Before any big signings, Pangai Junior still has his next boxing bout to get through. The 28-year-old is currently counting down the days until he faces Raphael Sa’u in Ipswich on March 23.
