ASPAs 2022: Harvey’s Donnell Wallam caps off huge breakout year with AIS Sport Performance award

Donnell Wallam’s breakout year in the Australian sports scene has been capped off in style with the presentation of a prestigious national award.

The Harvey product beat out the likes of Busselton pole vaulter Nina Kennedy, rugby player Maddison Levi, and snowboarder Valentino Guseli to win the Emerging Athlete of the Year award at the Australia Institute of Sport’s Sport Performance awards.

During the awards ceremony, which took place at The Star Event Centre in Sydney on Thursday night, Wallam expressed pride for receiving national recognition after a massive year.

“To even be nominated for the award is just amazing but now to have won it, I just can’t believe it,” she said.

“I guess it just tops off a big year that I’ve had.”

For the 28-year-old Noongar woman, 2022 has been a huge year.

Following a stint with the Leeds Rhinos in the UK’s Netball SuperLeague in 2021, Wallam returned to Australia in January after signing on as a train-on player for the Queensland Firebirds in the Suncorp Super Netball.

Wallam would soon make her debut as goal shooter for the Firebirds, replacing Romelda Aiken-George who went on maternity leave for the 2022 season.

After appearing in all 14 of the Firebirds’ matches throughout the season, Wallam managed 519 goals, the fifth-highest overall behind West Coast Fever’s Jhaniele Fowler (929 goals), Collingwood’s Shimona Nelson (701), Melbourne Vixen’s Mwai Kumwenda (624), and Giants’ Jo Harten (524).

Wallam also finished with 26 super shots and 35 offensive rebounds — the fourth highest in the competition behind Fowler, Kumwenda and Nelson.

After impressing national selectors, Wallam travelled to Birmingham as a reserve athlete for the Australian Diamonds at the Commonwealth Games in August, making her the third First Nations woman to represent Australia in netball.

Wallam eventually made her Diamonds debut during the team’s test series against England in late October and early November, where she pulled an incredible lay-up goal in the dying seconds to secure a thrilling 55-54 victory over England in their opening test match in Newcastle.

After being rested for the second game, Wallam impressed during the third and final test match in Brisbane, shooting an impressive 25 goals from 26 attempts to help the Diamonds win the series 3-0.

Wallam was then named the Suncorp Super Netball Rookie of the Year during the 2022 Australian Netball Awards in Brisbane earlier this month.