Tevita Pangai Junior's return to rugby league could happen sooner than expected with the forward reportedly in talks with a QLD Cup club.
After revealing his interest in a comeback to rugby league,ย The Courier Mailย has reported that Pangai Junior has held preliminary talks with Souths Logan Magpies coach Karmichael Hunt.
This would see the former NSW Blues prop return to the sport through the Brisbane Broncos QLD Cup feeder club.
โI think I could do both (boxing and league),โ Pangai Junior told reporters on Monday.
โI spar twice a week and I've played footy since I was four years old, both codes, rugby league and rugby union. There's great coaching at Souths Logan with Karmichael Hunt.
โI was lucky enough to play some games for them before the Broncos bosses kicked me out (in 2021). I have a lot of respect for Karmichael and Justin Hodges (Souths Logan assistant coach).
โ'Hodgo' was a great competitor so I will probably go back to Souths Logan, hopefully get some wins, and then after that I'll look to play some footy (for the Broncos in the NRL).โ
The 27-year-old played with the Bulldogs for the 2022 and 2023 seasons but decided to sever ties with the club and the game of rugby league, walking away from a $750,000 contract to take up professional boxing.
Last week, the former NRL heavyweight turned boxed revealed that he was approached by Eddie Jones in the middle of last season to jump codes to rugby union.
โIt's true I spoke to Eddie Jones,โ said Pangai Junior viaย News Corp.
โSimon Poidevin is a friend of mine, he helped me get a scholarship to Newington College when I was 12 years old and he helped set up a chat with Eddie.
โWe had been trying to set up the meeting for a while, but we finally spoke just a few days after I announced my retirement from the NRL.
โEddie was great. I really enjoyed talking to him.
โHe was pretty keen to sign me, he told me to watch some footage of games and I mentioned to him that I had played No.8 and liked watching Toutai Kefu and Willie Ofahengaue (former Wallabies).
โI definitely thought about going to rugby. There's the Lions tour and the World Cup coming up. I played rugby union as a kid, so I know the game, but I had told the Bulldogs I wanted to test myself in boxing and I wanted to stick to my word.โ
