He has previously played for the Brisbane Broncos, Penrith Panthers, Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, and the Dolphins in the NRL, for Tonga and New South Wales at representative level.

[16][17][18] In his next match in Round 13 against the New Zealand Warriors, he scored his first NRL career try in Brisbane's 36-18 loss at Mt Smart Stadium.

[21] After the Broncos' local derby clash against the Gold Coast in Round 7 which they won with a 24-22 win at Suncorp Stadium, Pangai Junior suffered a finger injury during the match and was sidelined for a number of weeks.

[24] On 11 November 2017, Pangai Junior made his international debut for Tonga against New Zealand, coming off the interchange bench in the inspirational 28-22 shock win at Waikato Stadium.

[28] As Tonga would dare to dream and score another two more 2 tries to make the score 20-18 with 2 minutes to fulltime, England winger Jermaine McGillvary lost the ball in his own half of the field, Tonga had one more final chance to pinch a stunning victory but unfortunately would end up in tears after Andrew Fifita would go over the tryline on the fulltime siren but the try wasn’t checked by the video referee when the ball was raked out of his hand by England second-rower Elliot Whitehead but was seen by referee Matt Cecchin as a knock on, the match ending in a thrilling fashion 20-18 at Mt Smart Stadium.

[31] As Pangai Junior showed himself as the standout forward for Brisbane, he was under consideration for the New South Wales State of Origin squad, but he opted to stay loyal to Tonga to represent his family but later did not take part in the Pacific international against Samoa due to injury.

[32][33] After missing a couple of matches due to injury in Round 19 against the Penrith Panthers, Pangai Junior had a sensational first half, scoring two tries as Brisbane went on to win convincingly 50-18 at Suncorp Stadium.

[35][36] In late November, Pangai Junior announced that he wanted to represent New South Wales for the 2019 series, after being named in Brad Fittler’s 32-man training squad.

[42] On 21 July, Pangai Junior signed a three-month deal with Penrith after being released immediately by the Brisbane club for the rest of the 2021 NRL season.

Pangai Junior made his club debut for Penrith against South Sydney in round 23, coming off the interchange bench in a 25-12 victory.