{"id":825418,"date":"2026-07-26T18:38:49","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T18:38:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/825418\/"},"modified":"2026-07-26T18:38:49","modified_gmt":"2026-07-26T18:38:49","slug":"nrl-2026-stephen-crichton-welcomes-baby-girl-praise-into-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/825418\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL 2026: Stephen Crichton welcomes baby girl Praise into the world"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are plenty of reasons to celebrate out at Belmore with the Bulldogs closing in on a finals berth, but it was a different kind of birth that means the world to skipper Stephen Crichton, who became a father the night before their win over the Warriors.<\/p>\n

Crichton and his partner Leone welcomed a little girl into the world on Friday, with the superstar five-eighth paying tribute to Praise with a rock the baby celebration after he scored the opening try.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a massive 24 hours for me, just being there for wifey and seeing what she goes through. It was a massive motivation for me to come and get strapped up,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe moment she told me that I could go and play, it was just like no matter how tired I was today or how sore I was, it wasn\u2019t as bad as what she was going through. So massive motivation there. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut to hold the baby last night (Friday) was the biggest blessing and probably the biggest thing in life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leone was staying in Penrith with family while her partner was getting ready for the Warriors game, but he made the mad dash west when his phone rang.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was like 4am, and she called me while I was sleeping. She\u2019s been staying out in Penrith, and I\u2019ve been staying at home,\u201d he explained. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo she called me, and straight away at 4am we headed out to the hospital. She was there for basically the whole day and pushed the baby out at 9.30 last night. It was a long day, but she did really well.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s a strong woman, and respect to the ladies that go through that.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot really (it hadn\u2019t hit me that I\u2019m a dad) until probably just last night holding her. I\u2019ve got a lot of nieces and nephews \u2013 she\u2019s going to be the tenth grandchild for mum and dad. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got a lot of nieces and nephews, but obviously it hits different because she\u2019s mine. She\u2019s going to be a little princess for the rest of her life, and I\u2019ll be protecting her. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt has hit me now, but the most important thing while I was on the field was just doing my job for the boys and getting that win. Now, going back and seeing her is going to be really special.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crichton has already jokingly ruled out a potential NRLW career for Praise because there\u2019s \u201ctoo much media\u201d, but she\u2019ll always get to look back at this game as the night her dad did something special for the world to see. <\/p>\n

\u201cEven if I didn\u2019t score, I would have had an opportunity (to celebrate her) but to get a try and just give it to them is pretty cool,\u201d he said after scoring.<\/p>\n

Bulldogs coach Cameron Ciraldo praised his captain for not only getting on the field but for playing a starring role again in the halves after he made the switch from centre last month. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe looks pretty good as a five-eighth,\u201d he said, with plenty of people questioning at the time whether it was the right move.<\/p>\n

\u201cEspecially one that didn\u2019t sleep so I\u2019m very proud of him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Originally published as \u2018It hits different because she\u2019s mine\u2019: Fatherhood hits home for Stephen Crichton as he welcomes \u2018princess\u2019 Praise into the world<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There are plenty of reasons to celebrate out at Belmore with the Bulldogs closing in on a finals…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":825419,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[382445,398854,398847,376793,398868,377658,398855,377214,398870,398883,398858,376730,398866,398861,398871,398873,398875,398882,398846,398844,382345,64,63,294133,398876,66965,12954,4026,7618,98710,223923,398867,2582,102635,39598,393627,390932,384202,398851,392401,390279,191,398869,67651,107961,398857,8280,398849,398880,386826,761,762,398879,158,383422,16284,1861,46677,1900,157199,398845,111177,163920,398863,398877,398872,398850,85,4546,398856,392037,398878,398884,23275,380414,377453,395523,381735,398885,398865,225862,398860,377486,398864,378229,398852,398853,377104,398859,376539,12644,398881,54798,398874,380383,24080,398862,9119,3198,398848],"class_list":["post-825418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-s-life","tag-4am","tag-9-30","tag-a-dad","tag-a-different-kind","tag-a-father","tag-a-finals-berth","tag-a-five-eighth","tag-a-little-girl","tag-a-little-princess","tag-a-long-day","tag-a-lot","tag-a-massive-24-hours","tag-a-massive-motivation","tag-a-potential-nrlw-career","tag-a-rock","tag-a-starring-role","tag-a-strong-woman","tag-a-try","tag-an-actual-birth","tag-an-opportunity","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-baby-joy","tag-basically-the-whole-day","tag-belmore","tag-birth","tag-bulldogs","tag-cameron-ciraldo","tag-centre","tag-crichton","tag-especially-one","tag-family","tag-fatherhood","tag-friday","tag-her-dad","tag-her-life","tag-her-partner","tag-his-captain","tag-his-partner","tag-his-phone","tag-home","tag-just-last-night","tag-last-month","tag-last-night","tag-leone","tag-life","tag-massive-motivation","tag-mum-and-dad","tag-my-job","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nieces-and-nephews","tag-nrl","tag-nrl-star","tag-penrith","tag-people","tag-plenty","tag-praise","tag-princess","tag-probably-the-biggest-thing","tag-reasons","tag-respect","tag-scoring-bulldogs-coach-cameron-ciraldo","tag-skipper-and-new-dad","tag-skipper-stephen-crichton","tag-something-special","tag-sports","tag-stephen-crichton","tag-that-win","tag-the-baby","tag-the-baby-celebration","tag-the-biggest-blessing","tag-the-boys","tag-the-bulldogs","tag-the-field","tag-the-halves","tag-the-hospital","tag-the-ladies","tag-the-mad-dash","tag-the-moment","tag-the-most-important-thing","tag-the-night","tag-the-opening-try","tag-the-rest","tag-the-right-move","tag-the-superstar-five-eighth","tag-the-switch","tag-the-tenth-grandchild","tag-the-time","tag-the-warriors","tag-the-warriors-game","tag-the-world","tag-their-win","tag-this-game","tag-today","tag-too-much-media","tag-tribute","tag-warriors","tag-wifey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/825418","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=825418"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/825418\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/825419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=825418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=825418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=825418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}