Donnell Wallam goes from recreation centre in Waroona to Australian Diamonds squad in just four years

Donnell Wallam was playing in country recreation centres when the Diamonds lost a heartbreaking Commonwealth Games gold medal match to England on the Gold Coast in 2018. Four years later and the WA shooter’s remarkable rise up the netball ranks is set to make its crescendo, with Wallam in Australia’s plans for revenge in Birmingham later this year. Coach Stacey Marinkovich had little choice but to pick Wallam in the 18-player squad where the final 12 will be selected from to head to England, with the 28-year-old form for Queensland Firebirds irresistible. Wallam has scored 210 goals in just five Super Netball games, a remarkable feat considering she was signed on the eve of the season as a replacement for pregnant veteran Romelda Aiken-George. The retirement of champion and former captain Caitlin Bassett earlier this year left a hole at goal shooter and Wallam was an obvious choice. Wallam is one of four West Australians named in the squad, joining Fever captain Courtney Bruce, fellow Fever defender Sunday Aryang and Collingwood shooter Sophie Garbin in the gold rush. Marinkovich said Wallam wasn’t a certainty for the squad right up until the Firebirds win over the Adelaide Thunderbirds on Sunday. “I think it was a point of difference that we don’t currently have in the squad. While we have a more post-up shooter in Sophie, they’re different in the way they play the game,” Marinkovich said. “When someone is putting up that many shots with accuracy and is now starting to go up against some of the more formidable defenders in the league .... she deserved a look in. “She’s been on the radar since she went to England, it was just seeing what she could do against the elite. There’s still a lot of the season to play out, but what the selectors are enjoying watching is her progression each game.” Marinkovich said Wallam is every chance to be picked in the final team for the Commonwealth Games despite her inexperience. “We have gone with quite a list of shooters, so it’s seeing what the balance of the dynamic is,” she said. “For her to come to in, it’s what would be around her and vice-versa with other players. “There are definitely no guarantees. We’re still heavily invested in what’s going to happen over the next part of the season, but anyone in that squad can be putting their hand up.” Lorraine Ward discovered Wallam playing in Waroona back in 2018, instantly recognising her talent and recruiting her to West Coast Warriors in the WA Netball League where she won consecutive Jill McIntosh Medals as the best and fairest. “There was just something about her. She didn’t do anything amazing, I just thought she was going to be good with some work,” Ward said. “When she started doing lay-ups and the likes, we realised she was something special. “Whatever bad ball you’d put in she’d just get it and do something special with it.” Ward and Wallam became close, with the former becoming not only the coach but a mentor and helping her get to England to play for the Leeds Rhinos. Once Wallam decided to return to Australia for family, they worked hard to get her a Super Netball contract but were set to take a training partner role at Fever again. “She was bitterly disappointed and I was shocked because I thought surely someone would pick her up,” Ward said. “We both said it’s just a matter of keeping plodding away.” Then came a call from Firebirds coach Megan Anderson in January inviting Wallam to head over and train with the group, but there was no promise of a permanent gig. The shooter then got COVID on arrival, before impressing at the Team Girls Cup pre-season competition, which locked her in as the replacement for Aiken-George. Ward said it was the culmination of a tough few months for Wallam, who had not been on the court for seven months after a broken finger, chest infection and personal family tragedy. “Just getting over the grandmother’s death and not being here for her family has been a huge obstacle for her family,” Ward said. “She was then so frustrated that she couldn’t train with her broken finger, it just went on and on. “She’s bloody resilient that girl, I tell you. She’s got a heart as big as Phar Lap’s.” 2022-23 Australian Diamonds Squad: Sunday Aryang, Kiera Austin, Ash Brazill, Courtney Bruce, Gretel Bueta, Sophie Dwyer, Sophie Garbin, Paige Hadley, Sarah Klau, Cara Koenen, Kate Moloney, Amy Parmenter, Jamie-Lee Price, Maddy Turner, Donnell Wallam, Liz Watson, Jo Weston, Steph Wood.