Still only 18 and chosen in the Junior Kangaroos team to play New Zealand on October 18, Pangai has watched and learned from the mistakes that have stunted the NRL careers of two of his older brothers.

Oldest brother David was part of the Queanbeyan Blues premiership-winning side this year after a lack of focus saw him cut by a handful of NRL clubs without playing NRL.

In May, after more than 800 days since his only NRL game with North Queensland, Raiders centre Mosese Pangai was chosen to play against Penrith but was dumped by coach Ricky Stuart after showing up late to training.

Tevita is so highly rated by Stuart that he was signed until the end of 2016 shortly after he arrived at the club this year. The giant backrower was even in line for an NRL debut, had there not been second-tier salary cap issues at the Raiders.

"It's good being the youngest, sometimes you don't have to make the same mistakes because they've made it," Pangai said.

"He [Mosese] got to training 10 minutes late. Sticky [Stuart] didn't want a bar of it because the team wasn't going that good at the time.

"He usually has a good routine with his training and unfortunately he read the calendar wrong. It was pretty heartbreaking because he worked so hard to get back."

Last year Tevita was named in the Junior Kangaroos train-on squad, but nearly withdrew out of respect for brother Kilu, 19, after he was accidentally named in his place.  Kilu convinced him to attend and while Tevita didn't make the final squad, it gave him the confidence he could take the next step.

"I was going to pull out of the train-on squad, but the NRL fixed it up," Pangai said.

"I know personally my oldest brother [David] would have been the best out of us if he stuck at it.

"He's a real student of the game. Even though he got let go by a few clubs he's real smart about footy and teaches myself and my brothers a lot."

Pangai spent most of the season in Mounties, with the Raiders now viewing the NSW Cup competition as a better stepping stone to first grade than the under-20s.

"It's very physical and not as fast as under 20s, but it's a big learning curve and I think it's a good step into the NRL, coming up against regular first-graders," he said.

Pangai is one of three back rowers Stuart has high hopes for, with Patrick Mago also making the Junior Kangaroos team while Luke Bateman narrowly missed out.

All three are contracted until the end of 2016, and Pangai hopes they can one day form a back row partnership in the NRL.

"Hopefully we can crack it," Pangai said. "We're in the full time squad and I'm really looking forward to having rugby league as a job and doing it as a living.

"I did my first NSW pathway camp under Ricky when he was Blues coach and I always wanted to play under him after that.

"I was hoping he'd come to Canberra and he finally did."