Kikau arrived in Fiji about the same time as his precious cargo. The scenes when he delivered the gear to an old high school trainer, Ben Soso, will remain with Kikau for a long time. "Ben coached me in high school, we were pretty close, and he's now working with another guy who plays rugby for Fiji, Seremaia Bai,'' Kikau said. "They are running a rugby academy together and identify which boys have potential. "I told them I was coming home and would collect whatever gear I could. One afternoon they were training and then I rocked up with all the boxes. It was great. I had a good chat with them and they all wanted to know my story.'' Kikau's good deed was publicised on the Panthers website at the time, but was quickly lost as the coaching merry-go-round cranked into top gear and so many other NRL players made the wrong sort of headlines.

"His skills are phenomenal": New Panthers coach Ivan Cleary is a Viliame Kikau fan. Credit:AAP While Kikau's parents were delighted to see their son again, they weren't happy with his new peroxide look. "I thought I'd colour it for the off-season," Kikau said. "I did it for a laugh. But when mum and dad saw me they didn't like it. Dad was going to run the trimmer through the middle of my hair. I'll cut it off for the start of the season.'' Kikau was brilliant in his first full season for the Panthers and found a home on the left edge with fellow Fijian Waqa Blake. And the powerhouse forward has quickly impressed new coach Ivan Cleary, who was part of the team that lured Kikau to Penrith all those years ago when he was scoring tries for fun with the North Queensland Cowboys Holden Cup team as a prop. "I was involved in signing him, but never got the chance to coach him,'' Cleary said. "He had played in the centres as well.

"His fitness is OK, but his skills are phenomenal. His potential is right up there. "He reminds me of [former New Zealand international and Warriors star] Ali Lauiti'iti – just his size, the way they move and their nature. He's the sort of guy who can play anywhere.'' Best mates: Penrith's Fijian combination of Waqa Blake (left) and Billy Kikau made a big impact on the NRL last season. Credit:Wolter Peeters Kikau and Blake were unstoppable at different stages last year. Kikau is even backing Blake to force his way into the NSW Origin team. "Waqa has the speed, he's got everything," Kikau said. "I just try to create space for him and he does the rest.

"Hopefully there's a lot of that again this year. "I can see him playing for NSW this year. He's faster than [incumbents] James Roberts and Josh Addo-Carr. He's Fijian. Fijians are fast.'' Kikau returned to pre-season training at 121 kilograms. He was the last first-grader to exit the "fat club". "I hate fat club,'' said Kikau, as he launched into some chicken after a training session. "I normally play around 118kg. I want to go to another level with my performances this year. "There was a lot of talk around how I played last year, and my goal was just to make the 17 each week. I was thankful to make the 17 for round one, and then in the middle of the season I was thrown into the starting line-up.

"I've worked hard on my defence, which was one of my weaknesses last year. I've enjoyed training under Ivan. He spoke to me and said he didn't want me to change much in my game.'' Panthers prop Reagan Campbell-Gillard is an unabashed Kikau fan. "If you look back to 2017, he was playing in the middle, but he didn't have the motor, and when he was thrown on to an edge he was so destructive and so hard to handle," Campbell-Gillard said. "He's six foot four [inches tall], 118kg and just ripped – he's got abs on abs.''