Luki and teammate Tom Chester found themselves short on festive cheer after suffering the second ACL injuries of their careers within weeks of each other in December 2024.
Both men were told they would miss the entire 2025 season, forced to watch from afar as their Cowboys sputtered to a 12th-placed finish that puts coach Todd Payten under pressure to begin 2026.
It was yet another injury setback for highly-rated Cairns product Luki, who has been restricted to just 57 games in five seasons of first grade.
Luki tore the same ACL in 2022, suffered a hamstring injury just after his return in 2023 and missed seven weeks in 2024 with an ankle issue.
After he went down with his latest ACL issue, there were times Luki wondered what he'd done to get so unlucky.
"You always have those thoughts. But I feel like the more you play into those thoughts, the more negatively it impacts you," he said.
"It was definitely a lot harder than the last (ACL injury), just when and how it happened was the hardest part for me.
"I sort of didn't really dwell on it too much, I couldn't really do anything about it."
During their recoveries, Luki and Chester bought a six-metre fibreglass boat together and spent plenty of time off the Queensland coast sharing in their love of fishing.
There was more than one occasion the duo, optimistically, asked Cowboys physiotherapist Ash Graham whether they could cut their rehab sessions short to hit the water.
Luki has reeled a long nose emperor, humphead wrasse and southern saratoga among other big fish over the past 12 months, and found the angling adventures helped he and Chester in their recovery.
"It was good for us to get away from footy, give us the opportunity to switch off and give our minds a break from footy," he said.
"Then when we're back in the club and in the facility, we're training hard and we're competing hard on everything."
Some 413 days after his injury, Luki returned to the field and scored the first try in Saturday's 34-30 pre-season defeat of Canterbury.
"It felt unreal, it's just so good to be back out there after a long 12 months on the sidelines," he said.
With a shoulder injury sidelining gun second-rower Jeremiah Nanai for the opening two months of the season, the Cowboys need Luki to hit the ground running in the Las Vegas season opener against Newcastle.
Nanai is looking forward to watching his long-time mate finally have a chance at a full NRL season.
"I reckon he's probably one of the best back-rowers in the game when he's fit and healthy," Nanai said.
