{"id":289335,"date":"2025-11-17T00:49:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-17T00:49:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/289335\/"},"modified":"2025-11-17T00:49:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-17T00:49:11","slug":"channel-7-presenter-alissa-smith-and-ex-nrl-star-matt-ballin-celebrate-beautiful-arrival-of-baby-boy-braxton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/289335\/","title":{"rendered":"Channel 7 presenter Alissa Smith and ex-NRL star Matt Ballin celebrate \u2018beautiful\u2019 arrival of baby boy Braxton"},"content":{"rendered":"

Channel 7 sport presenter Alissa Smith and her ex-NRL<\/a> star partner Matt Ballin have celebrated the safe arrival of their first child together.<\/p>\n

The couple, who tied the knot in October last year, shared news of their pregnancy in June<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The baby boy arrived last week earlier than expected.<\/p>\n

Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today Arrow<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWelcome to the world, Braxton David Ross Ballin,\u201d Smith and Ballin wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur beautiful son arrived a little earlier than expected \u2014 but somehow right on time for us. The moment we held him everything else faded away.<\/p>\n

\u201cBorn Wednesday 12th November at 11:24pm \u2014 Braxton is healthy, perfect and already so very loved.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe couldn\u2019t be more grateful for a safe and healthy arrival for Mum and Bub. A beautiful start to this new chapter.<\/p>\n

\u201cWelcome to our family and team, Braxton.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe love you x.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ballin also shared the moment his three older children from a previous relationship visited the hospital to meet Brax, complete with a family photo of the six.<\/p>\n

Smith, who joined 7NEWS in 2023, wrapped up her work commitments at the end of October.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuch a special night. My final 7NEWS bulletin before heading off on maternity leave,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you to my wonderful colleagues for the beautiful flowers and the kind send-off \u2014 I\u2019m so grateful for this team and for everyone who\u2019s been part of the journey so far.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt meant the world to have Matt and our family there to make such a special moment in my career.<\/p>\n

\u201cExcited for the next chapter ahead \ud83c\udf7c\u2728 It\u2019s not goodbye but see you soon… just with a new addition to our crew.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ballin paid tribute on the same night.<\/p>\n

\u201cTonight\u2019s Channel 7 bulletin will be a special one \u2014 Alissa\u2019s last before maternity leave,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s worked so hard, showing up every night with professionalism, warmth and care, all while being the most loving step-mum to Fletch, Murph and Kenz.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow it\u2019s time for her next big chapter \u2014 becoming a mum herself.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re all so proud of you, Liss. You\u2019ve given so much to your work and to our family, and we can\u2019t wait to see you take on this new role with the same heart and dedication you bring to everything you do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ballin will soon juggle life at home with a newborn and pre-season coaching commitments at the Brisbane Broncos.<\/p>\n

The 41-year-old retired as a player in 2017 after a brief stint with Wests Tigers followed his premiership-winning career with the Manly Sea Eagles.<\/p>\n

He joined the Broncos as an assistant coach in 2021 and stayed on under new coach Michael Maguire this year, playing a key role in the grand final win over Melbourne.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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2 min read<\/p>\n

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2 min read<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Channel 7 sport presenter Alissa Smith and her ex-NRL star partner Matt Ballin have celebrated the safe arrival…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":289336,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,4428,761,762,158,588,85],"class_list":["post-289335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-brisbane-broncos","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sport","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=289335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289335\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/289336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=289335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=289335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=289335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}