Pangai Jr on top of Knights’ wish list

BRONCOS coach Wayne Bennett is facing a fresh attack from Nathan Brown, with the Newcastle boss revealing he has launched a poaching bid for Brisbane’s best young forward, Tevita Pangai Jr.

Brown confirmed his interest in Pangai Jr yesterday, and will ramp up his pursuit of the off- contract Bronco in the wake of Brisbane’s seasonending 48- 18 finals implosion to the Dragons last Sunday.

Brown and Bennett were embroiled in the most explosive coaching feud of the season in April when the Newcastle mentor made a savage remark about the super coach’s personal life during his stint at the Knights.

Now Brown is putting renewed pressure on Bennett and the Broncos, who face a multimillion- dollar battle to keep Pangai Jr – a Newcastle junior – away from the Knights.

The Broncos are supremely confident of signing Pangai Jr to a new deal, but Brown has a history of luring Queenslandbased stars after snatching Kalyn Ponga from the Cowboys and Herman Ese Ese from Brisbane last year.

“I’m interested in Tevita,” said Brown, who met with the Broncos powerhouse a fortnight ago after Pangai Jr flew south to inspect Newcastle’s set- up.

“Tevita is a Newcastle boy and he knows this area well, so he would be a great player for us to get.

“We’re going through the process at the moment.

“We’ve told Tevita we are definitely interested in him.

“We are prepared to make him an offer, but first we need to know if Tevita wants to leave the Broncos and he is also in a management dispute, so it’s hard for any club to negotiate with him at the moment. But we’d love to have him here. Tevita can add some real aggression to our pack.”

The Tongan international has fielded $ 3.2 million offers from Sydney clubs worth $ 800,000 a season.