Mosese Pangai (born 18 December 1991), anglicised Moses Pangai, is a

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

international

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

footballer who last played as a or on the for the

North Queensland Cowboys The North Queensland Cowboys is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Townsville, the largest town in North Queensland. They compete in Australia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL). Sinc ...

in the

NRL The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

Background

Pangai was born in

Newcastle, New South Wales Newcastle ( ; Awabakal: ) is a metropolitan area and the second most populated city in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It includes the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie local government areas, and is the hub of the Greater Newcastle area, w ...

, Australia. He is of Tongan descent.

Early career

Pangai played his junior rugby league for the Concord Burwood Wolves in Sydney and was a highly touted prospect coming up through the

Balmain Tigers The Balmain Tigers (also known as the Sydney Tigers from 1995–96) are a rugby league club based in the inner-western Sydney suburb of Balmain. They were a founding member of the New South Wales Rugby League and one of the most successful in t ...

Wests Tigers The Wests Tigers are an Australian professional Rugby league, rugby league football team, based in the Inner West and South West Sydney. They have competed in the National Rugby League since being formed at the end of the 1999 NRL season as a j ...

junior systems. After representing the New South Wales Combined High Schools Under 15's the year before, Pangai made his Toyota Cup debut in 2008 for the

at 16 years old.

North Queensland Cowboys

After 6 Toyota Cup games for the Tigers, Pangai signed with the

. He would go on to play 73 games for the Cowboys Toyota Cup (Under-20s) teamfrom 2009 to 2011, scoring 27 tries and helping them to the 2011 Grand Final, which they lost in extra time to the

New Zealand Warriors The New Zealand Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and is the League's only team from outside Australia. They were formed in 1995 as ...

. While living in Townsville, Pangai attended

Ignatius Park College Ignatius Park College is an Independent school, independent Catholic school, Catholic secondary school for boys, located in Townsville, Queensland, Australia. The school is affiliated with Edmund Rice Education Australia network that operates un ...

. Pangai was rewarded for a great 2011 season by being selected for the

Junior Kangaroos The Junior Kangaroos side represents Australia in the sport of rugby league. They are commonly known as the Junior Kangaroos, after the native marsupial of that name. Since 2019, they are an under-23 side, with players selected from the NRL. The ...

and being elevated to the Cowboys first grade squad for 2012. He made his first grade debut on the wing in the 18–0, Round 1 loss to the

Gold Coast Titans The Gold Coast Titans are a professional rugby league football club, based on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. The club competes in the National Rugby League (NRL), Australia and New Zealand's national rugby league club competition. The ...

Penrith Panthers

In August 2012, Pangai signed a two-year deal to join the

Penrith Panthers The Penrith Panthers are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the western Sydney suburb of Penrith that competes in the NRL. The team is based west of the centre of Sydney, at the foot of the Blue Mountains. Penrith ...

. In June 2013, Pangai was released by the Panthers without playing a game and signed with the

. In October 2015 Pangai was surprisingly selected in the final 18-man

Tonga national rugby league team The Tonga national rugby league team ( to, timi līki ʻakapulu fakafonua ʻa Tonga) represents Tonga in rugby league football. They are currently the second ranked team in the world. The team was formed to compete in the 1986 Pacific Cup, an ...

squad after not being initially selected in the 48-man preliminary train-on squad. On 17 October 2015, Mosese played for Tonga in their Asia-Pacific Qualifier match against the

Cook Islands ) , image_map = Cook Islands on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , capital = Avarua , coordinates = , largest_city = Avarua , official_languages = , lan ...

for the

2017 Rugby League World Cup The 2017 Rugby League World Cup was the fifteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup tournament and took place in Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea between 27 October and 2 December 2017. The tournament featured the national teams ...

. On 7 May 2016, Pangai played for

against

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands (Manono Island, Manono an ...

in the 2016 Polynesian Cup where he played on the wing, scoring 1 try in the 18–6 loss at

Parramatta Stadium Parramatta Stadium was a sports stadium in Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia, 23 kilometres west of Sydney's central business district. The stadium was the home ground of several western Sydney-based sports teams, at the time of closure t ...

References

External links

Brisbane Broncos profileNorth Queensland Cowboys profileNRL profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pangai, Mosese 1991 births Living people Australian sportspeople of Tongan descent Australian rugby league players Junior Kangaroos players Mackay Cutters players Mount Pritchard Mounties players North Queensland Cowboys players Mosese People educated at Endeavour Sports High School Rugby league centres Rugby league players from Newcastle, New South Wales Rugby league second-rows Rugby league wingers Tonga national rugby league team players Tongan rugby league players Townsville Blackhawks players Wests Tigers NSW Cup players Windsor Wolves players