West Coast Eagles star Nic Naitanui and Brittany Bown gear up for Christmas joy with son Ezekiel

West Coast Eagles legend Nic Nat is used to being the star of the show but this Christmas he will take a backseat to his son Ezekiel who will be at the centre of the festivities. The six-week-old enjoyed every newborn’s rite of passage when he met Father Christmas for the first time at the Myer Perth City Santaland event on Saturday. Hailing from a big family, Naitanui said the loved spending time with relatives and seeing the joy in his niece and nephew’s eyes when opening presents on Christmas day. “It just gives you a better perspective on things, you know, such as Christmas. It brings a family closer together and it’s no longer about you. It’s all about the child,” he said. Bown said “spending time with family” was her favourite part of the holiday season as she tipped his one to be magical for the duo as first-time parents. “I think just seeing everyone brought together by a baby is really nice. Everyone loves him so much. It’s a really nice time to spend with everyone. They’re all like, just happy and contented with the baby,” she said. Bown said she loved motherhood that she could spend hours looking at her new bub; “realising he’s ours and we don’t have to give him back”. “Seeing him come alive. He’s smiling a little bit now and giving us a bit more. So that’s really amazing,” the new mum said. Naitanui said his outlook on life has “been pretty similar”. “I’ve got a big family. I’ve got a lot of little children in our family. But I guess when it’s your own, it’s a little bit special, more special, and different,” he said. “I think I’ve always had a big, I guess, joy in seeing young children open up their presents. “When it’s my little nieces and nephews just ripping over wrapping paper. “They don’t really care what’s inside — just the process of opening presents has always been a big thing. “I, just like Brit said, bringing family together — everyone sitting, eating and talking has been the biggest and best thing over the years.” Naitanui ruled out any Eagles-related presents under their tree, with Bown adding the couple wanted to allow their son to decide his interests. “We’re going to let him choose what do you want to play in the future,” Bown said. Naitanuithanked his fellow teammates for the lessons they have taught him about fatherhood, labelling them “the best father figures in the world” and “really good role models”. He said his biggest take away from watching other dads was the importance of quality time. “I think most of the boys are like they have a good work-life-balance and I think the biggest thing is just as being present,” he said. “Just being present and taking the time, not being on the phone and just being with your child and spending quality time with them.” Bown and Naitanui welcomed baby Ezekiel Duke Naitanui on October 3, about a week after his due date; he weighed 4kg (8.8 pounds) and was 54.5cm long. His birth came just over a month after the couple got engaged on their “babymoon” in Broome. Bown described being shocked when Naitanui got down on one knee while they were posing for a sunset photo at Gantheaume Point. In her first column in STM after Ezekiel’s birth, Bown wrote that she and Naitanui had worked hard on their relationship and while it had not always been easy, they had established “a strong sense of trust and appreciation” on which to build their family. “The expansion of love I feel for Nic and the little human we created is the best feeling I have ever felt,” she wrote. Since then, the couple has been adjusting to life as a family of three, spending their early days in the “newborn bubble” staring at Ezekiel “in absolute awe”, Bown said, as she mastered breastfeeding and Naitanui embraced being a “very hands-on father”. Later, Bown shared that she enjoyed taking “Ezzy”, who she described as a calm, content baby who rarely cried, on regular walks, and shared photos of him snuggled in a baby carrier on a recent getaway to Denmark with family and friends. On Instagram, Naitanui described Bown and Ezekiel as his “family forever”, earlier calling his fiancée “the most powerful, kind and beautiful person”. In an exclusive interview in May to announce the pregnancy, Naitanui said Bown would be “a natural mother”. “She’s pretty good around children and has a very caring nature. So I think she’ll fit perfectly in the role of being a mother,” he said.