His team may not have made it to this weekend’s NRL Grand Final but Sonny Bill Williams has his eye on a far more important prize.
About to become a dad for the first time, the Roosters star and his wife Alana are counting down the days until the birth of their little girl.
Our insider says Sonny is so excited he’s already talking about baby number two!
“Initially he was hoping for a boy but now he’s used to the idea of having a girl he’s actually looking forward to it even more,” says a friend of the parents-to-be, whose bub is due November 15.
“He really wants to have a big family and wants all his kids close in age and close to the ages of their little cousins so they can all grow up together.”
Related: Something to tell us, Sonny?
While Sonny, 29, and former dancer Alana, 21, who met through Facebook in June 2013, didn’t plan to start a family so soon, friends say it’s been a “happy accident”.
“They started dating after Sonny started messaging her on Facebook,” reveals our insider.
“Then literally four weeks later he asked her to marry him and just two weeks after that they had a top-secret wedding with just family and his close friends.”
Sonny sure loves playing happy families and has posted several photos of he and Alana posing with his nephew Malik and niece Tatum to Instagram. He’s also dropped several hints of imminient fatherhood, posting photos with Alana captioned in which he calls her “Mumsy”.
Alana, who grew up in Sydney, converted to Islam for the dual-international after their whirlwind romance.
She was throwing herself into her new religion, even fasting, when six months later she found out she was pregnant.
“They want to have a strong Muslim name,” says the source.
“Alana likes Armani, which means ‘yours faithfully’, but Sonny prefers Eman which means ‘safe’, so they’ll probably go with that because he generally calls the shots.”
Since married life began, fiercely private Sonny has encouraged his new wife to leave her old life of parties and social media behind her.
A friend of the pair says he prefers Alana to stay inside at their Bondi apartment while he’s at training so she’s not photographed by paparazzi and asks her to only leave if it’s with a family member.
“She had to close down all her Facebook and Instagram accounts. Sonny really wants everything to be kept away from the public,” says the friend.
“The life she leads now is the absolute opposite to the life she had before. Alana was an open book and she used to post everything online. Now none of her friends have even seen her growing belly.”
The petite brunette confesses she’s put on 15kg and blames her late-night cravings.
“She is craving savoury chips and dips all the time and Sonny is running off to the servo in the middle of the night to get whatever she needs whenever she wants it. He adores her and wants her to be content.”
Alana Raffie was spotted out shopping in Sydney a few months ago with what looked like a definite baby bump!
Having grown up in a big family, Sonny is confident around kids, while Alana, who has had no real experience around children, is relying on her husband to lead the way in nappy changing and feeding.
“Sonny is going to be an amazing dad – he’s a natural with kids. But Alana’s nervous and wondering how she’ll cope when they move to New Zealand for two years in January because it will just be the three of them.”
But our insider says Sonny is promising his new wife that once his two-year All Black contract comes to an end they’ll head back to Australia where he can retire and dedicate himself to being a husband and father.
