Netball Australia should have done more to protect rookie shooter Donnell Wallam from the public fallout of the $15 million sponsorship saga, ex-Diamonds captain Sharni Norder says.
Wallam made headlines across the country when Hancock Prospecting pulled the richest sponsorship in Australian netball history amid concerns from the Diamonds playing group.
It came after revelations First Nations woman Wallam was unsuccessful in securing an exemption to wear the Hancock logo from Netball Australia, despite her concerns over historic comments made by company founder Lang Hancock in the 1980s.
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Speaking after Wallam’s heroics won Australia the first Test of the England series on Wednesday night, Norder said someone needs to be held accountable for the stress placed on the rookie netballer.
“Donnell Wallam should never have been out in the limelight. She should have been protected all this time and she wasn’t,” Norder said on SEN.
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“I do think someone in Netball Australia needs to be held accountable for everything that’s happened in the last couple of weeks because it wasn’t fair on all of the players, but especially Donnell.”
Norder said the emotional scenes that followed Wallam’s match-winning goal in the dying seconds on Newcastle was one of the “proudest moments” she’s seen as an Australian netballer.
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“Just because of what the players have had to withstand over the last two weeks. It never should have been as public as it was – there was a lot of misreporting and they carried a lot of the load of what happened,” she said.
“I watched that game and went – that’s what we represent. That’s what we’re all about. We have each other’s backs.
“It was the toughest of anything we’ve ever had to face, and they had to endure that.
“Wearing the dress they were given to wear (in New Zealand without the Hancock logo), (the sponsorship debacle) it was automatically in the public eye – why that happened we don’t know.
“Whether Netball Australia decided or talked to Hancock … it wasn’t on the players.
“(But) it was thought they were protesting and then the narrative was run from there.
“Once the narrative takes hold and runs, it’s very different to get the story out there.”
Diamonds coach Stacey Marinkovich said Wallam’s Firebirds teammates including ex-Diamond Gabi Simpson and pregnant star Gretel Bueta were ensuring the 28-year-old had support around her.
Marinkovich also revealed Diamonds players past and present had come together in a show of unity for Wallam.
“I don’t think she’s been as isolated as what is envisaged … there’s actually been players with her working through and supporting her,” she said post-match.
Wallam had such an impact in her debut – as only the third indigenous Australian netballer in history, that Norder believes she’ll get the nod for next year’s prestigious World Cup.
“She has the world at her fingertips, Donnell,” Norder praised.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s the starting shooter for the World Cup next year.”
