Aussie Diamonds debutant Donnell Wallam etched herself into netball folklore with an incredible, heartwarming moment against England.
Debut stories don’t get much better than this.
Just a few months after she was first drafted into the Australian Diamonds’ squad, Aussie netballer Donnell Wallam has made perhaps the best impact possible in her first game in the green and gold.
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Coming onto the court as a Goal Shooter late in the game against England, Wallam had scored seven of the Diamonds’ 12 final-quarter goals with the score tied at 55 apiece in the last minute of the game.
But after England turned the ball over with a mere 15 seconds on the clock, the Aussies swooped and the ball found itself in the hands of Wallam, who swiftly pounced to slot the ball through and send Australia a point ahead.
It’s a brilliant end to an already heartwarming debut for Wallam, who upon taking to the court became just the third Indigenous woman, and the first in over 20 years, to represent the Diamonds.
The lead-up to her debut had also been shrouded in the controversy and discussion surrounding the Diamonds’ partnership with mining company Hancock Prospecting, as the Diamonds and Wallam voiced their concerns with the company and its historically problematic treatment of Indigenous people.
Wallam spoke briefly on the controversy after the game, saying her debut made the past few weeks ‘feel like a blur’, and that it was a ‘relief’ to finally get her chance on the court.
The result of the game – and Wallam’s impact on it – is certainly a poetic response to recent events, and makes her debut even sweeter.
The saying certainly rings true that you couldn’t have scripted a better outcome.
