But the former NRL prospect almost landed at the Canberra Raiders when his junior rugby league mentor called him to see if he wanted to join the Green Machine next year.

Instead, Peni says he has unfinished business in Super Rugby and wants to use his move to the ACT Brumbies to launch his hopes of playing for the Wallabies in the coming years.

Peni has signed a two-year deal with the Brumbies and was unveiled as the club's last recruit on Wednesday, becoming the 39th and final player on the roster for the 2018 Super Rugby campaign.

Brumbies coach Dan McKellar said the club "nailed" its targeted recruiting plan after luring Peni, Richie Arnold, Isi Naisarani, James Verity-Amm and Mees Erasmus to the capital for the ashes of the Force.

But Peni's arrival almost never happened when the 23-year-old winger considered a return to rugby league when Raiders recruitment manager Peter Mulholland called earlier this year.

Mulholland was the man who recruited Peni to the Newcastle Knights junior ranks in 2013 and was keen to add him to the Raiders' back line next year.

"I almost feel like it's fate that I ended up here," Peni said.

"I feel like there are some unturned stones in Super Rugby and I need to play to fulfil my full potential. There was an option to come to the Raiders in the middle of the year.

"Pete Mulholland had a lot to do with recruiting me when I was younger. Basically they just said they wanted me to compete with the Raiders players, I was pretty shocked to get the phone call.

"It just played out like this and I ended up in Canberra. But I said to myself I've got a lot of unturned stones and I want to stay in union as long as I can and as long as it takes me.

"I'm here to stay for as long as [the Brumbies] will have me, but league is never that far away. Right now I'm just concentrating on what I can do for the Brumbies."

Peni scored three tries in just six games for the Force this year before injury cut short his debut Super Rugby season.

The Brumbies will start pre-season testing on Thursday before ramping up field sessions at their University of Canberra headquarters on Monday.

McKellar is taking the reins for the first time after stepping up to replace Stephen Larkham, but two big pieces of his puzzle won't return to training until next year.

Christian Lealiifano and David Pocock will finish their playing commitments in Ireland and Japan respectively before joining the rest of the squad to finalise preparations for the season.

The demise of the Force has paved the way for the Brumbies to increase their squad size to 39 and McKellar is confident the club has created competition and depth to help propel it to a Super Rugby title.

Peni is set to compete with Henry Speight, Lausii Taliauli, James Dargaville and Andy Muirhead for a spot on the wing.

"What I like about guys who have played rugby league is their willingness to beat a man and I think that's what we need, players with a point of difference in attack," McKellar said.

"...If we want to win this competition, we have to improve our ability to score tries from unstructured situations. Guys like Chance will help us do that.

"We had a targeted recruiting approach ... and to be honest we've nailed it. We wanted players who could fit into our program on and off the field."