Firebirds shooter Donnell Wallam’s wild year can end on the biggest high

Diamonds’ squad selection and a Commonwealth Games travelling reserve role followed.

A spot in Australia’s match-day 12 is next. Then time on court.

Wallam is close now. So close.

“It’s just been incredible,’’ says the shooter who, in November, will be in the Diamonds’ 14 for three Tests against England, as international netball returns to these shores for the first time in 1088 days.

“Sometimes I’m like, ‘Wow, so much has happened in such a short amount of time this year’ and I’m just so grateful.’’

And, given that the most recent Indigenous woman to represent Australia of the only two in history was Sharon Finnan-White 22 years ago, the proud Noongar woman will not just be playing for herself.

“It’s just so special, because I’ve looked up to so many people and it’s been such a long time since we’ve had First Nations athletes at the level, so it’s amazing.

“I just hope I’m inspiring the next generation.’’

As to whether Wallam senses that’s the case: “I’ve heard a bit. I’ve had a few people message me or see me in the street and just say how much confidence I’ve given them or their daughter or their son, and hearing stuff like that is just really nice and kind of makes it all worthwhile.’’

Following the post-season delisting of Jemma Mi Mi from the Firebirds, Wallam will also be the sole Indigenous player among Super Netball’s contracted 80 in 2023, and thus a collective step forward does not mean the end to those pedalling back.

Yet there was nothing bittersweet about farewelling her new Diamonds’ squad-mates in Birmingham once the final team list had been submitted, for the Queensland Firebirds shooter, who had been part of staging camps in Perth and then Manchester, was thrilled just to be there.

To get a taste of the elite international environment, and start to understand what’s required to become a regular there.

“Being my first season in Suncorp, for me, this was just a huge bonus. I was really content with being a travelling reserve and I just wanted the best for Australia — and that was obviously the best: they got the gold. So I’m just really happy I got to travel with them. That was an awesome experience.’’

The West Australian then headed to Italy with her Super Netball pals Gabi Simpson and Kim Jenner for a debut European experience of another kind. The first Diamond back on Aussie soil has since opted for some quiet time with family and friends in Harvey, south-west of Perth.

“Just [having] a break, I guess,’’ the once-infrequent flyer, who had never left the country until 2020, told CODE Sports this week, “to get over the holiday I had.’’

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This whole scenario was unimaginable at the start of 2022, when Wallam had again missed out on a Super Netball contract with the Fever. Which in itself, was no great shock, given that Jhaniele Fever is not just entrenched in the green shooter’s bib but almost concreted in under the Perth Arena post.

As a dual Jill McIntosh Medallist in her two seasons in the WA Netball League (and former Diamonds’ coaching great McIntosh has said Wallam would have been in her Birmingham team, incidentally), who then starred for UK Superleague club Leeds Rhinos under Dan Ryan (the newly-minted Fever premiership coach), it was in Brisbane where she would get her chance.

Initially invited to join the Firebirds for a six-week trial, Wallam was elevated as a permanent replacement for the pregnant Romelda Aiken-George in March and would go on to finish third behind only Fowler and Magpie Shimona Nelson for goals scored in the regular season.

By April, the 190cm revelation had rocketed into the Diamonds’ squad, having initially thought she was being scammed when coach Stacey Marinkovich called to share the news.

In July, Wallam was Birmingham bound, and will soon add a precious gold dress to the training partner kit in which she prepared for the late illness or injury call-up that never came.

“I really enjoyed it and learnt so much. Just (gained) so much more netball knowledge,’’ Wallam says of the Commonwealth Games travelling emergency role.

“Because I’m so new to the game at the high performance level, I was just really working on honing my craft and learning new things in the circle and stuff and just working with different players, as well, so being able to adjust really quickly, with different line-ups.

“And just everything that goes on behind the scenes, so not just on game day but everything else that’s involved with it. Just doing your homework, like watching footage of players and just everything else that comes with the game that most people don’t see behind the scenes, and just I guess what it’s like to be in camp, away from home, and on the road a lot, so just how to cope with that.

“I haven’t experienced anything like it in my life so, for me I was kind of blown away with it all, I guess. It was just really nice to get to know all the other players that usually I’d only play against, but now we’re teammates in Diamonds, so really nice to get to know them, how they play on the court and how we gel as a combination.’’

In Perth, she roomed with captain Lizzy Watson, although some separation was necessitated by two Covid-19 scares in the team.

“Liz kind of just took me under her wing a little bit because I’m so shy, so it was just nice.’’

In Manchester, it was cohabitation with Fever captain Courtney Bruce. “She was good. We’re both shy people, but we both understood what it’s like being a shy person! I guess it’s just kind of normal once you get into it.’’

The intensity of the training environment, though, was something else. Or “next-level’’, as Wallam describes it – particularly during match-play against WA-based members of the Australian men's’ team.

“I just remember thinking, ‘Wow, the intensity has just lifted again’,’’ she says.

“I was like, ‘Am I good enough?’ But at the same time I was getting through it, so I’m like, ‘Wow, it’s a bit of a shock to the system but it’s like a good shock’.’’

Improving her fitness is still a priority ahead of next year’s World Cup in Cape Town, as is the addition of more variety to a predominantly holding-style game in which there is nevertheless a touch of Gretel Bueta-style basketball flair.

“So adding some more tools, I guess, which I think would make me a dynamic player and one hard to read, as well. Just making the defenders’ job harder,’’ she says.

“Being in the environment, and knowing what’s expected of me and what I need to do to stay there, it’s definitely made me motivated to stay at the top of my game.

“So now that I am picked in the next squad for the England series, I just really want to work on my fitness, work on what I need to work on, and just be so ready for when I get the call-up.’’

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It’s not a big list, the famous-athletes-from-Harvey alumni.

Former AFL players include 76-game Eagle/Cat Derek Hall, and 26-game Docker Anthony Morabito, while Wallam nominates 2021 West Coast draftee Brady Hough as, currently, the next best-known sporting product.

Everyone knows everyone in Harvey, says Donnell of the dairy and orange country 140km south of Perth, admitting there might possibly have recently been a touch more Wallam-as-celebrity recognition than before.

“Yes and no,’’ she says. “But I just let it be known that I’m still the same Donnell from Harvey so don’t treat me any differently.’’

She is now also Donnell the entrenched Firebird, and in the next week or two will move back across the continent to settle into a city where she arrived without any contract guarantees after turning down a Fever training partner offer just eight extraordinary months ago.

“Yeah, it sort of does feel a bit more permanent this time which is nice to have some stability,’’ says Wallam, who is nevertheless appreciative of how crazy-quick her rise has been.

The World Cup, the next pinnacle event, is 11 months away.

“I would love to have every opportunity I can get, so I just look forward to that England series and see where it goes from there,’’ says Wallam, who knows how advantageous it is to be partnering Diamonds’ star Bueta in the Super Netball circle, and potentially against the Roses, as well.

“It’s awesome. That’s been a huge help for me and I guess seeing how well we could work together has also probably helped my chances of being in the squad. It’s been awesome to work with Gretel. She’s, like, an incredible athlete.’’

And another with an unconventional backstory, Bueta having switched sports after a decorated junior hoops career. Wallam, for her part, had only played netball socially before being convinced to trial in Perth for WANL club West Coast Warriors after being scouted playing on weekends at nearby Waroona.

That changed everything, even if Wallam would not necessarily alter anything else.

“Sometimes I wish I would have taken it more seriously earlier, but I also believe that everything happens for a reason, and I’m on this path I am now because I didn’t want to be on it earlier. I wasn’t interested,’’ she says.

“I don’t have any regrets of what I did before netball but I’m just grateful that I’m on the path now.’’

While focused on more Diamonds’ success, she would be thrilled to get on court against the Roses, with the first of three Tests to be played in Newcastle on October 26 and Sydney and Brisbane to follow.

Ahead of the next Diamonds’ training camp, Wallam will start a new job in Queensland; the old one in Perth was with the Waalitj Foundation as a mentor in the Deadly Sista Girlz program that delivers a culturally-appropriate healthy lifestyle program through schools.

Which ties in nicely with Wallam’s career goals, and what she wants to achieve by the time her late-starting netball career is done.

“I just want young Indigenous kids to feel like they’ve got a chance, no matter what sport they want to pursue,’’ she says, “and that’s never too late to follow your dreams.’’