Tevita Pangai Jnr eyes NSW Blues Origin berth in 2019
If Tevita Pangai Jnr wants to join South Sydney in 2020, he isn’t letting on. But NSW Origin? Absolutely, the 113kg wrecking ball says. And wants in for next year.
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If Tevita Pangai Jnr wants to join South Sydney in 2020, he isn’t letting on.
But NSW Origin?
Absolutely, the 113kg wrecking ball says.
And wants in for next year.
Yet as for then doubling down against Queensland and joining his old Brisbane coach Wayne Bennett at Redfern in 12 months, when his own Broncos deal expires?
“I haven’t spoken to Wayne since he left,” Pangai Jnr says. “And I don’t know what the future holds.
“I’ve signed for one more year with Brisbane … so I’m a Bronco and I’d be talking out of school if I said anything past that.”
Yet what the 22-year-old will talk about is cracking a start with Brad Fittler’s reigning Origin champions.
A Tongan international as recently as October, Pangai Jnr insists he is now gunning for a place in the NSW pack despite admitting he’d “forgotten” how much the sky blue jersey meant to him.
The young Bronco, who only recently extended with the club for 12 months, says his new commitment to the Blues follows a run of incidents that included both being an Origin spectator and a chat he had with fellow Tongan star, Andrew Fifita.
The son of Tongan parents, Pangai Jnr has spent the past year igniting a Mate Ma’a explosion that started with the nation’s shock run to the 2017 World Cup finals.
Yet the footballer admits watching this year’s Origin series on TV revived memories of a childhood where he was born in Sydney, raised in Newcastle and constantly dreamt of sky blue.
“But playing with Tonga,” Pangai Jnr recalled this week, “I sort of forgot that.
“But then watching this year’s series, I felt like I was missing something. I thought ‘oh, have I made my decision too early here?’.
“Obviously I’m a proud Tongan, but I’m also a proud Australian, and a proud New South Welshman.
“It was a dream for me as a kid to play for NSW … and when Freddy gave me the chance to come in, I thought about what I was as a kid — playing NSW as a junior — and the hate we have for Queensland.
“We’ve created something special with Tonga but I want to play Origin.”
Pangai Jnr also revealed his decision followed a heart-to-heart with Fifita, who committed to Tonga in 2017 after representing NSW and Australia.
“Andrew said the difference between me and him was that he’s felt what it’s like to play for NSW — I don’t,” Pangai Jnr continued.
“He just said it was up to me, to follow my heart … and that I could always come back and play for Tonga.
“He said do whatever your heart tells you and he wouldn’t look at me any differently.
“It was pretty scary to front a senior player, but I’m happy I got that word from him.”
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