Kikau won't tone down aggression despite shoulder charge ban

Penrith enforcer Viliame Kikau says he won't change his defensive ways despite serving a two-match suspension for a shoulder charge.

Kikau will return to the line-up for Friday night's vital clash against the Sharks in Penrith after sitting out the side's recent run of back-to-back losses for a tackle deemed illegal on St George Illawarra halfback Darren Nicholls in round 18.

The Fijian international conceded he'd been getting "flogged" at training while his teammates have been attempting to cement themselves in the top eight without the services of their dynamic left-edge forward.

"I was disappointed missing two weeks and this time of the year as well you don't want to missing the games," Kikau said on Monday.

"Obviously you don't want to lose that aggression. If the tackle was that bad I wouldn't have fought it and taken the one week but we thought we had a good case to challenge it.

"I'll still keep my aggression there. I was more disappointed with the way the game's going. Being a back-rower that's your job to put pressure on the ball player."

The Panthers will be hoping for a far better result at the NRL judiciary on Tuesday night with James Maloney set to challenge a tripping charge following last week's loss to the Bulldogs.

Maloney needs to successfully beat the grade-one citing that attracted 100 base points after a similar offence earlier in the year.

The Panthers No.6 was charged after sticking his foot out in the 73rd minute and coming into contact with Bulldogs hooker Jeremy Marshall-King.

Making matters worse for the Panthers, back-up playmaker Jarome Luai was sporting sunglasses at training on Monday but did not take part in the field session with results from scans to follow after he received a nasty poke to the eye in the second half that caused swelling.

Penrith centre Brent Naden also failed to finish training with ice strapped behind his left knee with Ivan Cleary set to name his 21-man squad on Tuesday.

"We've been beating ourselves and haven't been playing like a top-eight team the past two weeks," Kikau said.

"We had a review today and the boys will be holding themselves accountable for everything they did. This week's game is so important to us."

The Panthers have not beaten the Sharks since 2015 including their previous clash in April where the side were run down late by the Cronulla outfit after leading 20-6.