Saturday, 8 December 2018:
 | | TEVITA PANGAI of the Broncos takes on the defence during the NRL match between the Brisbane Broncos and the Sydney Roosters at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, Australia. | |
|
They are already pretty tight but Brisbane forwards Tevita Pangai and Matt Lodge hope next year to be Blues brothers.
Pangai and Lodge have hailed their friendship as the key reason behind re-signing with the Broncos this week.
The bruising forwards are so close they talked each other into staying at Brisbane, announcing they had new Broncos deals within 24 hours of each other.
Now they want to take their bond into the representative arena with both earmarked for NSW duty in 2019.
Prop Lodge - who re-signed for two years - has been named in coach Brad Fittler's Emerging NSW camp that will assemble in Sydney next week.
Pangai - who inked a 2019 deal - is also on Fittler's radar after confirming he would switch his allegiance from Tonga to NSW next year.
"(Lodge) thinks we are a package deal and if he stays, I'll stay," Pangai laughed.
"He is one of the big reasons why I stayed. We enjoy each other's company and hang out a fair bit outside of footy.
"We hold each other accountable and just want to make each other better."
Pangai and Lodge inspired each other to have a breakout 2018 for Brisbane and are hopeful bigger things are in store.
Asked about the prospect of running out together for NSW, Pangai said: "It would be good if we could get a jersey but none of this will happen if we don't play well for the Broncos.
"That is the first step."
Sydney-born Pangai said he had pledged his allegiance to NSW after finally coming down from the euphoria of Tonga's stunning run to the 2017 Rugby League World Cup semi-finals.
