Enigmatic Bulldogs recruit Tevita Pangai Junior has copped a hammering from rugby league greats over two hot-tempered acts of thuggery in Canterbury’s 30-6 trial defeat against Cronulla.
The first came just three minutes into the game, when Pangai Junior chased a kick and attempted to clobber Sharks winger Sione Katoa over the head.
Katoa defused a bomb and hit the deck as Pangai Junior careered into him and tried to smash him with his left forearm, leading to the referee placing the big-framed Bulldog on report.
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The former Bronco and Panther then had an even wilder moment 29 minutes into the contest, when he charged up in defence at Sharks forward Royce Hunt and unleashed.
Pangai Junior ripped apart Hunt’s shirt like he was in a UFC octagon, not on a footy field for a Monday night trial, before throwing several misfired punches.
He was placed on report for a second time in the game and marched to the sin bin.
“One player who lost the plot in the first half – Pangai Junior,” Braith Anasta said on the half-time Fox League coverage.
“What was he thinking?”
Greg Alexander struggled to fathom what he’d seen.
“Well we spoke about him pre-game and said, ‘If he can focus on what needs to be done on the field, what’s important on the field’ – now, if he didn’t make contact to the head he went within a whisker,” Alexander said.
“He wasn’t on a mission to run hard, tackle hard; he was on a mission to get sent off.
“He will come that close to getting suspended. He was fortunate the elbow (didn’t hit Katoa) and the two punches didn’t make contact with Royce Hunt. But he was trying hard.
“What is he thinking?”
Michael Ennis described Pangai Junior’s opening half as crazy.
“He tries to play this enforcer game and he just crosses the line,” Ennis said.
“When he was at Penrith he got it right. His job was simple, his job was clear and in the limited time he played he did it and did it well.
“He’s gone to the Bulldogs and already in the first few games he’s got himself in awful trouble.”
Two of the shortest-tempered players in the league are now in the same forward pack at the Bulldogs, after Pangai Junior became a teammate of Jack Hetherington.
The 25-year-old Hetherington has a reputation for having little control over both his emotions and tackling technique.
Bulldogs coach Trent Barrett admitted his squad must clean up its game.
“We’ve got to get that out of a game, and it’s across the board,” Barett told the Fox League panel.
“We want Tevita to be aggressive, but we have to be smart. Cronulla have got a few forwards in there with a bit of niggle, but we can’t get roped into that and we have to be better than that.
“We’re not a good enough side to be able to have those errors and have those penalties go against us. We need an even share of the footy and we need confidence.”
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