Manly serial niggler Dylan Walker has refused to change his ways despite spending more than a month on the NRL sidelines with a broken eye socket as a result of his motormouth.
After missing the past five weeks as a result of coming to blows with Melbourne's Curtis Scott, Walker will make his return against Penrith at Panthers Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Scott struck Walker after the pair traded barbs all night during their infamous round 11 clash but Walker says he won't be toning down his chat despite earning a reputation as a pest.
Last year he successfully got under the skin of Penrith in their round 26 win after delivering a series of fiery verbal tirades.
He also got in the face of shattered Canberra players after booting the winning field goal in a memorable golden point victory and exclaimed "Woooo, what do you think of that?"
At a time when the game is criticised for being too sanitised, Walker is happy to play the villain
"I know a lot of people don't like what I do but I'm not here to impress everyone," Walker said.
"It gets the best out of me. It holds me accountable. If I go out and do things like that, then I have to come out and play hard.
"I don't really care what people say and how they perceive me. At the end of the day I've got the respect of my teammates and I'd like to think some other people in the game respect me.
"At the end of the day, I'm going to be me. If you don't like me, I don't really mind."
Walker was adamant what he said to Scott to get under his skin and set off a brawl was relatively tame.
"It wasn't that bad," Walker said.
"All I said was 'you're an idiot', that's about it. It wasn't bad, I've said worse."
He said he took no issue with Scott's arguably lenient sentence after he was suspended for just two weeks.
The pair will line up against each other in the return clash at Lottoland in two weeks, but Walker said he wasn't bearing any ill will.
"He did his fair share and he got me a beauty but I'm not dirty about him, I don't hold grudges," Walker said.
"It's ok, I'm not angry at anyone. I'm a bit upset with myself for being out for so long."
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