Brisbane Broncos board split on whether to sack Tevita Pangai Jnr
Tevita Pangai Jr’s future at the Broncos is on a knife’s edge. What will determine if he stays at the club and why has the verdict been delayed? Peter Badel has the exclusive details.
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Tevita Pangai Jr’s future at the Broncos is on a knife’s edge with the Brisbane board divided over whether to sack the controversial forward.
News Corp can reveal the Broncos board have delayed a verdict on whether to rip up Pangai Jr’s $2.1 million contract following a Zoom conference with the forward and his lawyer Simon Tolhurst this morning.
The Pangai Jr camp was bracing for a definitive call Friday, but the Broncos board will spend the weekend mulling over fresh testimony from the Tongan Test star in his desperate fight to remain at Red Hill.
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The parties spoke for about an hour before the Broncos board held their own deliberations after hearing explanations from Pangai Jr’s legal team in relation to the forward’s series of COVID-related breaches.
The Broncos board is split on whether to give Pangai Jr a shot at redemption at Brisbane.
It is understood Broncos chairman Karl Morris and News Corp delegate Neil Monaghan are leaning towards a zero-tolerance approach, but Pangai Jr has some high-level support from board members Darren Lockyer and Tony Joseph.
Lockyer has been mentoring Pangai Jr in leadership training this season and believes the 115kg forward, at age 24, is entering his prime maturing years and can learn from his mistakes.
Joseph, who has known Pangai Jr since his arrival at the club in 2016, is also said to be sympathetic to the prospect of reformation.
But if the board is split, Morris, as chairman, has a decisive vote and the heavy-hitting multi-millionaire stockbroker is furious at Pangai Jr’s behaviour, which he believes has brought Brisbane’s $52 million brand into disrepute.
The meeting came just hours after revelations of Pangai Jr having links with some of Queensland’s most notorious outlaw bikies via his social-media account.
Morris promised Pangai Jr a fair hearing and the Broncos board will convene again next week where his fate will ultimately be decided, but the prospect of the 81-game back-rower wearing Brisbane colours next year seems unlikely.
Last week, Pangai Jr denied he had links to bikies after attending a barber shop owned by the Mongols and has appealed for a second chance at the Broncos.
“There is no association (with bikies),” he said. “I have never met any of the bikies before. I have no association with them and I won’t be going back to that shop ever again.
“I want to stay at the Broncos,” he said.
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“I’m not too sure what my chances are of staying. I am contracted until the end of 2022. We have had a tough few years, but I don’t want to play for any other club.
“I love Brisbane and I want to play for the Broncos. I want to get back in the winner’s circle and try to get another premiership for the Broncos. I owe it to the fans and my teammates to stay.”