Tevita Pangai jnr extends at Brisbane

The Broncos have wrapped up the final piece in their forward jigsaw puzzle with boom forward Tevita Pangai Jnr re-signing until the end of 2022.

The 23-year-old Tongan international's retention follows hot on the heels of the re-signing on Thursday of fellow Brisbane forward Matt Lodge for a further three years.

Pangai's retention means that the Broncos now have Patrick Carrigan (2022), Matt Gillett (2022), Payne Haas (2024) and Joe Ofahengaue (2022) signed long term and both David Fifita and Thomas Flegler wrapped up until the end of next season.

Pangai played his junior football in Newcastle and toured the Knights facilities last year before inking a one-year extension at Red Hill. Newcastle coach Nathan Brown was keen on getting Pangai to the Knights but he has elected to stay at Brisbane and forge a new era of success with one of the most promising groups of young forwards ever seen at the club.

Pangai was at the Canberra Raiders before joining the Broncos after he called Wayne Bennett seeking an opportunity to play NRL.

He will take on the Warriors on Saturday night in the second row, a position that he started in for the first time this season in the 24-22 win over the Sharks last week.

Pangai, who has now lined up in 67 Telstra Premiership games for the Broncos since making his NRL debut in 2016, played  had one of his best games of the season against Cronulla with 135 metres and seven offloads in attack. His one-handed flick at the death set up Jake Turpin for the winning try and he also showed outstanding awareness in the first half when he pounced on a Turpin grubber to score.

Broncos coach Anthony Seibold said Pangai's retention, on the back of the extensions of the other forwards, "really solidifies our forward pack".

"Keeping this young group together for as long as we can is the key for us to build connection and cohesion and get where we need to get to," he said.

"Tevita has so much potential and is a really talented player. He is starting to work out what he needs to do to be consistent. I really enjoy coaching him and he is starting to grow as a young man off the field as well.

"For him to commit to us and us to commit to him for the next three years is a really important signing for us."

Pangai has played mostly as a middle forward this year but his performance on an edge against the Sharks showcased his versatility.

"The flexibility of Tevita being able to play both is what really attracts me to him as a player. He has enormous ability out there on an edge with his running game and offloads but also defensively he does a good job," Seibold said.

"We have seen what he can do through the middle over the last season and a half."

The Broncos will now turn their attention to securing the versatile Jake Turpin beyond this year. Seibold said he was determined to retain the 22-year-old who starred in the 24-22 win over Cronulla at five-eighth and who will play halfback against the Warriors. 

"Turps wants to stay but there has been a stack of interest. We are really optimistic we will get a deal done," Seibold said.

"Jake is a footy player. I know that seems strange because they all play footy but he should have been playing in the '80s and '90s. He's a bit of a throwback.

"He has got a great personality that attracts people to him and is probably one of the most liked guys in the group. A lot of that respect is because he just competes, whether you throw him in at seven, six or nine. 

"I do see his best position as hooker going forward and we are hoping to get Tom Dearden back in the next couple of weeks. The guys were calling him Wally Lewis last week because he had a couple of try assists. He's in the number seven this week so hopefully he can do a few things like Alfie used to."