Donnell Wallam (born 23 January 1994) is an Australian

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a court by two teams of seven players. It is among a rare number of sports which have been created exclusively for female competitors. The sport is played on indoor and outdoor netball courts and is specifical ...

player for the

Queensland Firebirds Queensland Firebirds are an Australian netball team based in Brisbane, Queensland. Since 2017 they have played in Suncorp Super Netball. Between 2008 and 2016, they played in the ANZ Championship and between 1997 and 2007, they played in the ...

. In October 2022, Wallam became the third Indigenous netballer to represent the Australian Diamonds following Marcia Ella and Sharon Finnan. Wallam, a

Noongar The Noongar (, also spelt Noongah, Nyungar , Nyoongar, Nyoongah, Nyungah, Nyugah, and Yunga ) are Aboriginal Australian peoples who live in the south-west corner of Western Australia, from Geraldton on the west coast to Esperance on the so ...

woman, grew up Korijekup (

Harvey Harvey, Harveys or Harvey's may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Harvey'' (play), a 1944 play by Mary Chase about a man befriended by an invisible anthropomorphic rabbit * Harvey Awards ("Harveys"), one of the most important awards ...

), a small rural town two hours south of

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...

. She played basketball before moving to netball. She travelled to Waroona to play netball and was encouraged by netball coach Daniel Cools to try out for the Western Australia Netball League (WANL) in December 2018. In 2019, her first year in the Western Australia Netball League playing for West Coast Warriors, she won the Jill McIntosh Medal and the League Player's Player of the Year. In 2020, Wallam was selected for the WANL All-Stars that played

West Coast Fever West Coast Fever is an Australian netball team based in Perth, Western Australia. Since 2017 they have played in Suncorp Super Netball. Between 2008 and 2016, they competed in the ANZ Championship. Between 1997 and 2007, as Perth Orioles, t ...

. Wallam was selected for the

Western Sting The West Coast Fever reserves are an netball in Australia, Australian netball team that represents Netball Western Australia in the Australian Netball League. As the Western Sting, the team was ANL champions in 2017. The Fever reserves are effect ...

in the Australian Netball League but the 2020 season was cancelled due to COVID.In 2020, she played for the West Coast Warriors and again won the Jill McIntosh Medal and the League Player's Player of the Year. Wallam's rapid development led to her being offered a 2021 Super Netball training partner contract with the

. Wallam moved to England in 2021 to play for

Leeds Rhinos The Leeds Rhinos are a professional rugby league club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The club was formed in 1870 as Leeds St John's and play in the Super League, the top tier of English rugby league. They have played home matches at Headin ...

in the

Netball Superleague The Netball Super League is a top level netball league featuring teams from the United Kingdom. The league is organised by England Netball but features teams based in England, Wales and Scotland. The league was commenced playing at the 2005–0 ...

but in her second game broke her arm. She returned to play after seven weeks and was rated as the competition's most accurate shooter at 95 per cent. Wallam's season was further cut short as she returned home due to the death of her grandmother. In 2022, she played for the

in Suncorp Super Netball League replacing goal shooter

Romelda Aiken Romelda Aiken-George (néé Aiken) (born 19 November 1988) is a Jamaican netball player. Aiken debuted for the Jamaica national team in 2005 as a replacement for regular shooter Elaine Davis. The shooter rose to international prominence durin ...

. In her first season, she scored 519 goals and finished in the top 20 players for Nissan Net Points. These performances led to Wallam being named in the Australian Diamonds Squad for the

2022 Commonwealth Games The 2022 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Birmingham 2022, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations that took place in Birmingham, England bet ...

and went to Birmingham as one of three travelling reserves. Prior to her first game for the Australian Diamonds, Wallam sought an exemption from wearing the

Hancock Prospecting Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd is a leading Australian owned mining and agricultural business run by Executive Chairman Gina Rinehart and CEO Garry Korte. At stages of its trading, the company has been known as Hancock Prospecting Ltd, Hancock Reso ...

logo on her playing uniform due to the link to

Lang Hancock Langley Frederick George "Lang" Hancock (10 June 1909 27 March 1992) was an Australian iron ore magnate from Western Australia who maintained a high profile in the spheres of business and politics. Famous initially for discovering the world's ...

, its founder, who advocated for the genocide of "problem" Indigenous people. This resulted in meetings between Netball Australia, Diamonds players and Hancock Prospecting and led to extensive media coverage. Hancock Prospecting then withdrew its sponsorship to Netball Australia. Against this backdrop, Wallam played her first game for the Australian Diamonds on 26 October 2022 against the England Roses in

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

. Wallam came into the game with ten minutes to the final whistle and shot eight out of eight including the winning goal with seconds to play. Her Australian Diamonds number is 189.

Recognition

*2022 - Australian Institute of Sport Emerging Athlete of the Year

References

External links

Australian Diamonds Profile

Suncorp Super Netball Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wallam, Donnell Living people 1994 births Australia international netball players Australian netball players Queensland Firebirds players Leeds Rhinos netball players Indigenous Australian netball players Netball players from Western Australia West Australian Netball League players Suncorp Super Netball players Netball Superleague players Australian expatriate netball people in England Noongar people People from Harvey, Western Australia Western Sting players