Hi, it’s Luke here.

First, of all, I’m afraid I’m still waiting to have my hip surgery.

It should have been earlier this week, but now it’s going to be next Thursday. Apparently, they didn’t have the right equipment – or something like that – for the surgery the first time around.

As you can imagine, that’s pretty frustrating. In a sense, I feel as if I’ve been on death row over the past few weeks. As soon as I knew I needed the operation I just wanted to get it over and done.

Having said that, the delay has meant I’ve been able to start planning for the start of my testimonial.

That’s included booking Cedar Court at Ainley Top for my opening event on Saturday, April 30, the day after we host Leeds at the John Smith’s Stadium.

Planning what will be a testimonial ball is a bit like planning a weddding. This week it’s been a case of seeing what day everyone will be free, making sure a venue is available, arranging the catering, booking a band, and that sort of thing. It’s pretty hard work I can tell you, so the thought of being able to put my feet up in hospital this time next week will be most welcome!

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Part of the event will include a question and answer session with England and Wigan captain Sean O’Loughlin, who’s agreed to give up his Saturday evening to travel across the Pennines to help my cause.

He’s also going to donate a signed Wigan playing shirt, with many of my mates already enquiring whether it’s the shirt he was wearing when he took me out in the Giants-Wigan Magic Weekend clash at Murrayfield a few years back!

Lockers certainly didn’t miss with that one, and it definitely incensed our coach at the time, Nathan Brown, who felt the half-backs in the game just weren’t getting the protection they needed.

There’s no doubt Lockers caught me late and high, but I know there was nothing malicious about the challenge at all, far from it.

Sean O'Loughlin

Whether that challenge is the reason why he’s already prepared to do so much for my testimonial, I don’t know, because we have been good mates for well over a decade. In fact, I think we both made our Wigan debuts in a match against Warrington almost 15 years ago.

At the time, Lockers was Wigan’s No6 and I was our No7, and as well as being on-field teammates, we were good mates off it, too.

We’d regularly train early on and then, in the afternoon, go off and play snooker, where we’d be joined by several of my other mates who had come through the Wigan Academy, like Stephen Wild, Martin Aspinwall, Kev Brown and Stuart Jones, who all did, of course, go on to become my teammates at the Giants. It’s funny how things work out.

I wouldn’t be surprised if some of these turn up at my opening event.

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Hopefully, there will be more details about the event via flyers at tomorrow’s game, while keep a look-out on the Examiner website, Giants club website and my testimonial facebook and twitter accounts for more information as the day gets closer.

All being well, it should be an exciting occasion, although I have to say I’m pretty excited about our prospects for tomorrow’s home game against Widnes.

I’m chuffed to bits that some of the younger members of our squad are getting the chance to show what they can do on the Super League stage. They will guarantee a healthy future for the Giants.

And after the way they played against Wigan a fortnight ago, there’s no reason at all why they shouldn’t beat the Vikings.