Footy star reveals how her teammate helped her give birth to her son: 'It doesn't get more intimate than that'
On the first day of August, Lutkins and wife Kate welcomed a beautiful baby boy named Matthew at Mater Mothers' Private hospital in South Brisbane.
The birth was all the more memorable because Grider was the midwife.
Lutkins, a three-time All Australian key defender, played alongside Grider for six years and the pair formed a special bond.
'It doesn't really get more intimate than being in the theatre, in that space and going through that journey with someone,' Lutkins told News Corp.
'Ever since Nat came to the club we've been in the same (football) position and she is such a beautiful human.
'We just connected and had a friendship and relationship straight away even though we were, I don't even know how many years apart.'
In 2024, Grider told Lutkins she was doing a Bachelor of Midwifery at the University of Queensland.
Lutkins told her friend that she and her wife would be honoured if Grider could assist them at the birth of their next child. The couple already have a daughter together named Riley.
'I've always looked up to Lutz as sort of like a mother figure or a big sister or whatever you want to call it,' Grider said.
'She's so wise and has so much time for the young girls – particularly me, when I didn't know too much about footy or what the journey would look like for me.
'She was my biggest supporter and really helped me grow and become the defender that I have been over the last few seasons.'
Both of Lutkins' children were conceived via frozen embryo transfer (FET), with the process being successful both times on the first go.
'Football is like a second family and I had been with that club for eight years and nine seasons. You see them more than your family sometimes, so you do form special friendships,' Lutkins says.
'To share this journey with Natalie has been incredible. She's an absolute legend of a person and I have so much respect and love for her, the way she carries and holds herself, so it was a no-brainer having her as our midwife and getting to share that journey with her.
'Nat will always be a part of our lives and someone special in our lives and really special in Matt's life as well.'
Last year, Lutkins told the media how she juggles motherhood and being an athlete.
'They both work really well together, and they both bounce off each other - and they make you better at the other one as well,' she told Seven.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
4 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Patrick Mahomes makes astonishing revelation about wife Brittany giving birth to their third child
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes shared a special insight into just how much of a warrior his wife, Brittany, was after the birth of their third child. Earlier this year, Brittany gave birth to their third kid and second daughter, named Golden Raye. Golden grows the family to five - joining siblings Sterling Skye, 4, and Patrick 'Bronze' Lavon Mahomes III, age 2. Patrick revealed in the upcoming docuseries 'The Kingdom' that Brittany went into labor while he was watching playoff games to prepare for the Chiefs' next round. 'Brittany crushed it. I was watching playoff games the entire day. She went to labor after one game,' Patrick Mahomes recalled in a clip of 'The Kingdom' which aired on the latest episode of 'Good Morning America.' 'Baby was here before the next game, so I didn't even miss a playoff game. So, she is as locked in as I am as far as football goes.' Both Patrick and Brittany feature in the docuseries produced by ESPN - which takes a look back on the 65-year history of the team which has become the latest dynasty in the NFL. The series highlights the team's journey from its move to Kansas City, to its first Super Bowl victory and the glory days under coach Hank Stram, the down years of the 1980s and 1990s, up until today's modern powerhouse. In particular, the program looks at the previous season - when Mahomes, Travis Kelce, Chris Jones, and other Chiefs superstars were chasing the first 'threepeat' in NFL history. ESPN's cameras got a rare glimpse into the Chiefs' locker room, sidelines, and even on the field to document what could have been a historic season. But instead, the Chiefs were decimated in Super Bowl LIX by the Philadelphia Eagles in a 40-22 loss that was much more of a blowout than the final score suggests. All six episodes of the series are available to stream on ESPN+ and Disney+ and the first two episodes premiere on ESPN at 9:00pm ET.
Reuters
5 hours ago
- Reuters
Old head O'Connor gets Schmidt backing following unlikely return
JOHANNESBURG, Aug 14 (Reuters) - Injuries have given James O'Connor the chance to win a first Australia cap in three years in the Rugby Championship opener against South Africa on Saturday, but coach Joe Schmidt believes the flyhalf is ready to run the game. Injuries to Noah Lolesio, Tom Lynagh and Ben Donaldson have opened the door for O'Connor, 35, to make his first international appearance since 2022 in the cauldron of Ellis Park. There are few tougher places in world rugby to play. "The good thing with James is he came in right at the start of the Lions series," Schmidt said. "So he's had three weeks with us. "He's had a period to probably just assimilate himself into the systems that we run and to start gaining confidence that he could run the game, and the confidence of the players that he was a guy to listen to. He's done that really well, and that gives us confidence." O'Connor's return to the Wallabies set-up comes after a good season with the Canterbury Crusaders in Super Rugby Pacific. "I tracked him throughout Super Rugby while he was playing for the Crusaders, and I've seen him play for a number of years," Schmidt said. "He hasn't played for the Wallabies in three years, so he's pretty excited by that opportunity." There was another option open to the coaching team in 25-year-old Tane Edmed, who has one international cap, but the world champion Springboks on the Highveld are not the opposition to test out young talent on. "Tane's only just joined us," Schmidt said. "We've got a fair bit of confidence in Tane as well, he was on tour with us last year and made his Test debut, but he had a very disrupted Super Rugby season. "He didn't play a massive amount of minutes and didn't play consistently for the Waratahs, so we're just trying to balance all those things at the moment."
The Guardian
6 hours ago
- The Guardian
Wallabies and Springboks in identity swap for clash amid thin air of Highveld
One team boasts some of the most menacing forwards found anywhere in the world. The other is developing a scintillating backline capable of tearing apart any defence. Business as usual, then, for a Wallabies versus Springboks clash. Except this time, like the characters of Freaky Friday, the two sides have switched identities ahead of the first round of the Rugby Championship. Australia might have lost the British & Irish Lions series but they were one referee's decision at the breakdown away from causing a seismic upset. That the margin was so small was thanks largely to the thundering cameos of Will Skelton, Rob Valetini, Taniela Tupou and a handful of other meaty men who provided the front-foot grunt that was absent in the first Test in Brisbane. As for the Boks, under attack coach Tony Brown – the former All Black fly-half – the back-to-back world champions have shed their stereotype. These are no longer the burly brutes of old but sprinters and schemers, running from deep, off-loading in the tackle, unleashing a conveyor belt of diminutive scrum-cap-wearing wingers with nitroglycerin in their boots. Head coach Rassie Erasmus flexed his muscle by naming his team early on Monday and it carries the promise of the sort of enterprising, running footy that wins over neutrals across the Indian Ocean. Who knows, by the end of this two-Test tour, Australian fans might be calling for their team to play like the Boks. The freewheeling Manie Libbok has won the three-way battle for the No 10 jersey, edging out the more reliable Handré Pollard and the all-rounder Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu. On his inside he'll have Grant Williams, a zippy scrum-half who prefers sniping through gaps around the fringe to setting up metronomic phases or box-kicking behind a wall. With altitude being a factor at Ellis Park – the stadium in Johannesburg sits 1,800 metres above sea-level, resulting in visiting teams fatiguing late in the piece – the Boks' half-backs will want to stretch the game as much as possible. The Wallabies have a poor record in the City of Gold. Their last victory came in 1963 and they have an aggregate score of 207-107 against from their six games there in the professional era. Their most recent visit ended with a 35-17 defeat in the first round of the 2019 Rugby Championship where an attacking Boks fly-half in Elton Jantjies played all 80 minutes. The Springboks have named the same centre pairing from six years ago with André Esterhuizen linking up with Jesse Kriel. Unlike the creative men inside them, these two are hard-running midfielders and could point to a more direct approach from the Boks once the ball spirals past first receiver. This could also be a nod of respect to the burgeoning relationship between Len Ikitau and Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii. Australia haven't totally changed their identity and still pose threats out wide. It's just a matter of whether or not the ball can get beyond the midfield. And with 35-year-old James O'Connor to start at fly-half, making his first appearance in gold for three years, the Springboks will target that inside channel with a trio of rangy loose forwards. Sign up to The Breakdown The latest rugby union news and analysis, plus all the week's action reviewed after newsletter promotion There are two open-sides on either flank – the jackaling Marco van Staden and the two-time World Rugby player of the year, Pieter-Steph du Toit. Captain Siya Kolisi has been given licence to play towards the ball which means there'll be extra pressure on lock Eben Etzebeth and hooker Malcolm Marx to provide oomph in the tight exchanges. The Springboks didn't have it all their own way at the breakdown against Italy and Georgia recently and have just five forwards on the bench on Saturday, which is light by their standards. As long as Skelton and the other big units can endure the thin air of the Highveld, Australia have a chance of bloodying the Boks' noses. A quick word on Skelton; is there any other player whose mere presence alters the way opposition teams defend? His 2.03m 135kg frame falls like a felled redwood and he always seems to do so over the gainline. When he carries he requires the attention of at least two tacklers, pruning the line elsewhere. At the ruck he is immovable, providing guaranteed ball for the incoming cavalry. There's every chance Erasmus has multiple code-named moves that directly address the conundrum that is Skelton. Maybe one of them is called the 'Foster' or the 'Lohan', in honour of two of the most famous on-screen body-switchers. Whatever the coaches come up with, it will be fascinating watching these two old frenemies tear lumps out of each other while ripping pages out of the other's playbook.
