{"id":613088,"date":"2026-09-27T05:34:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-27T05:34:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/613088\/"},"modified":"2026-09-27T05:34:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-27T05:34:11","slug":"tevita-pangai-junior-signs-with-new-club","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/613088\/","title":{"rendered":"Tevita Pangai Junior signs with new club"},"content":{"rendered":"

Leigh Leopards<\/a> have announced the signing of former NRL<\/a> forward Tevita Pangai Junior<\/a> on a multi-year deal.<\/p>\n

The 30-year-old forward will make the switch from Hull KR<\/a> for 2027, bringing plenty of firepower up front for Adrian Lam<\/a> next year.<\/p>\n

Pangai Junior had a troubled stint at Hull KR<\/a> in 2026, where he received back-to-back suspensions and spent multiple weeks on the sidelines.<\/p>\n

The Tongan enforcer has notched up 147 NRL<\/a> games across spells at Brisbane Broncos<\/a>, Penrith Panthers<\/a>, Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs<\/a>, and then a season at the Dolphins<\/a> after coming out of retirement.<\/p>\n

Before the Hull KR<\/a> stint, he played 23 games for the Catalans Dragons<\/a> in 2025, adding to his rugby league experience in both hemispheres.<\/p>\n

On his day, Pangai Junior can make a massive impact on the field with his strength, ability to offload and leg speed.<\/p>\n

Pangai Junior thanked the club for giving him an opportunity to don the Leopards colours.<\/p>\n

\u201cMe and my family are very excited to join Leigh Leopard,” he said in a Leigh statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just wanted to thank my agent Ahmad Merhi for working tirelessly behind the scenes with Andrew Henderson<\/a> and Adrian Lam<\/a> to get this across the line. I also want to thank the club, its coaching staff, Board of Directors and owner Derek Beaumont for taking a leap of faith, and hopefully I can repay that faith.<\/p>\n

\"2023ADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA – MAY 31: Tevita Pangai Junior of the Blues looks on after defeat during game one of the 2023 State of Origin series between the Queensland Maroons and New South Wales Blues at Adelaide Oval on May 31, 2023 in Adelaide, Australia. (Photo by Mark Kolbe\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m really looking forward to getting a full pre-season and working hard with my new teammates, earning the respect of the coaching staff and the players and, more importantly, our members and fans.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pangai Junior has played at the highest level, with an appearance as starting prop for the NSW Blues<\/a> in State of Origin<\/a> during 2023 under coach Brad Fittler<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Lam says he is thrilled to have Pangai Junior join his side and is a positive step in building for a strong 2027 season.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re grateful as a club that these types of players want to come to us,” Lam said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery year our aim is to improve the squad, and a signing like this is definitely a huge step in the right direction.<\/p>\n

\u201cTevita has a wealth of experience and has played in some big games, including Test matches and State of Origin<\/a> for New South Wales only three years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe’ll bring some size, power, aggression and competitiveness to our forward pack.<\/p>\n

\u201cTevita is a player I believe can develop his game at Leigh and will be a leader for the club.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis signing is a big statement that shows rival clubs we are moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pangai Junior has represented Tonga<\/a> six times during his career since his NRL<\/a> debut in 2016.<\/p>\n

He will link back up with former Broncos and Tongan teammate Joe Ofahengaue<\/a> in Leopards colours.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Leigh Leopards have announced the signing of former NRL forward Tevita Pangai Junior on a multi-year deal. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":613089,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,139,69,213],"class_list":["post-613088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=613088"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613088\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/613089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=613088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=613088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=613088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}