The South Sydney Rabbitohs have emerged as suitors for Broncos star Tevita Pangai Jr, according to a report by The Daily Telegraph.
The Rabbitohs have added Pangai Jr to their wish list for 2020, following reports that the 22-year-old will sign a one-year extension to remain at Brisbane next season.
South Sydney are hopeful that newly appointed coach Wayne Bennett, who will join the team in 2020, can help recruit Pangai Jr amongst several other big names to the club.
Pangai Jr contacted Bennett while a member of the Raiders in a ploy to play under him at the Broncos.
And Rabbitohs boss Shane Richardson took great confidence from Bennett's history of recruiting players, which could boost their chances of landing Pangai Jr in 2020.
“Wayne has pulling power with players,” Richardson told The Daily Telegraph.
“Most of our players are signed for 2020. We’re in the middle of negotiations with (Test hooker) Damien Cook, but Wayne will only help keeping him.
“The Burgess twins (Tom and George) are off-contract and they love being under Wayne in the England team so that is another plus for us.
“Wayne tells me he is committed to the Broncos next year and that’s fine with us. We’re happy with the status quo.”
Pangai Jr told The Courier Mail last week that he would sign with the Broncos for next season, but could not commit to the club beyond 2019 when Bennett would no longer be at the helm.
“I love the Broncos but I have to do what’s best for myself as an individual, so just the one year suits me,” Pangai Jr said.
“We’ll see what happens after that.”
Bennett said there were a host of players at Brisbane solely under his regime.
“There’s a number of players at the Broncos who have come specifically there to play because I’m the coach,” Bennett said.
“I’m not going to be the coach after (2019), but they’re all big boys now and they’ve grown up so they’ll have to make their own decisions about what they want to do.”
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