Canterbury captain Josh Jackson is loving the grunt forwards recruit Tevita Pangai Junior is bringing to the Belmore club, despite the 16-10 loss to Brisbane at Accor Stadium on Sunday night.
It was Pangai Junior's first game for his new NRL club after missing round one while he recovered from a hamstring strain.
And the match was against his old club Brisbane, where he spent six years playing 96 games in the maroon and gold colours.
"He offers us something we haven't had here in a little while - that little bit of X-factor in his offloads. It just breaks defensive lines up a bit," Jackson said.
"He's going to get even better as the season rolls on."
That's a moderately frightening prospect for opposition teams as Pangai Junior made 150 metres off 20 runs against the Broncos, busted out of two tackles and let loose with seven offloads.
Meeting his old teammates certainly stirred the competitive juices - maybe a little too much as he was placed on report for a late tackle on the Broncos new halfback and kicker Adam Reynolds.
"I didn't think there was too much in that. He actually tried to hold him up on the way down ... so certainly no intent there," coach Trent Barrett said of his 117kg prop.
"We don't need to tell him to be aggressive, that's in his nature. He's always going to sail close to the wind Tevita and that's also what makes him such a special player as well," Barrett said.
"The more games he plays, the better he goes. But he didn't need any firing up tonight."
Pangai Junior played mostly up the middle against the Broncos but could be utilised on the edge soon.
"We're light on edge back-rowers at the moment so he may spend some time there. We've still got Raymond Faitala-Mariner and Matty Doorey, who aren't available," Barrett said.
"But at the moment he's doing a job in the middle. We'll keep stretching his minutes out because he had a bit of a disrupted pre-season.
"But he did some good things tonight."
A fit and firing Pangai Junior will be helpful for Barrett as the Bulldogs prepare for a torrid month - the next four matches being against the top-four sides from 2021: Manly, Melbourne, Penrith and South Sydney.
"As long as they keep playing for each other like they did tonight then eventually things will start going their way," Barrett said.
"The better they get they will start finding those last passes and you will see the tries we didn't get in the first half.
"We've just got to stick to the process and we'll get there."
Jackson was nodding his head beside his coach.
"Just a little more cohesion and polish on the edges ... but that will come with more time spent together in combinations. Both of our edges are brand new," he said.
