Tevita Pangai Junior captured with Dolphins staff as Phil Gould reveals Bennett influence

Tevita Pangai Junior has been spotted as a guest of the Dolphins at their match against the Dragons as speculation ramps up about his next destination.

Having retired from the NRL last year in pursuit of a boxing career, Pangai Junior recently signed with Souths Logan Magpies in Queensland Cup.

With the Magpies being a feeder club to the Brisbane Broncos, there's been a belief he could end up at his old club.

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However, 9news exclusively revealed footage of Pangai Junior mingling with Dolphins staff on the weekend.

Speaking to 9news post-game, Dolphins hooker Jeremy Marshall-King was none the wiser.

"He'd bring a lot of oomph to the team, no comment on whether he's coming or not, I don't know," he said.

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Pangai Junior featured off the bench for the Magpies in round one but was not named for round two.

The Dolphins connection comes after coach Wayne Bennett revealed he wasn't impressed with the forward's performance in the Queensland Cup match.

"I saw the game as well, I wasn't as impressed as his coach," Bennett told AAP.

"I know Tevita very well, I know what he can do. He is a wonderful player and I've got a lot of time from him ... he can play."

Bennett, who signed Pangai to the Broncos in 2016, hinted there's interest from the Dolphins to bring him in.

"He's an explosive young player on the way up with lots of ability," he said.

"We've got to wait and see now what he does.

"There's big opportunity and we've got really good balance in our cap and we've got money in our cap to spend on quality players - that's what we're trying to achieve.

"That's a future project and that's where it's heading."

Canterbury Bulldogs general manager Phil Gould, who gave Pangai his blessing to leave his contract early said he'd have no problems with the Origin representative returning to the game.

"His heart wasn't in it at the time, he didn't really want to play football, he was going to go try something else but absence makes the heart grow fonder," he said on Nine's 100% Footy.

"If in his time away he's decided he's got an itch to scratch then I'm very happy for him to do it."

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Gould added the Bennett factor will weight heavily on Pangai, revealing his belief there was significant disappointment when the super coach was sacked by Brisbane in 2018.

"I think he went to Brisbane to be coached by Wayne Bennett and Bennett left and I think he was disappointed in that, he's kind of been a little bit lost since then," he said.

"It wouldn't surprise me if he was going to come back to the game if Bennett would be someone he'd seek out for advice and that could lead to going there."