Former NSW Swifts star Sam Wallace-Joseph gets UK career lifeline after three months after leaving Super Netball

Three months on from controversially parting ways with the NSW Swifts, Sam Wallace-Joseph has secured her next contract with an overseas club.

England Super League club Loughborough has thrown Sam Wallace-Joseph a career lifeline after she was axed by the NSW Swifts last season.

Wallace-Joseph and the Swifts officially parted ways “by mutual agreement”.

But in a statement released at the time, the club confirmed the agreement to part ways was due to “a matter which concerned her behaviour within the team environment”.

Non-disclosure agreements prevent both the Swifts and Wallace and her management from discussing the matter which was an unprecedented move in the Super Netball era.

But the two-time premiership winner’s career looked in jeopardy after the split and no Super Netball team offered her a contract.

Sam Wallace-Joseph parted ways with the NSW Swifts in June. Picture: Matt King/Getty Images

Before she re-signed with the Swifts for 2024 though Wallace, who had missed almost two entire seasons after a severe knee injury that required a reconstruction and intense rehabilitation, had received offers from England.

She ultimately re-signed with the Swifts, helping them to the pre-season Team Girls Cup in a triumphant return before an incident that rocked the playing group and seemingly derailed the club’s season.

“For the wellbeing of all concerned the nature of the matter will remain confidential. However, it has been mutually agreed that parting ways is the best way forward for both Samantha and the club,” a statement released in June said.

“The behavioural standard expected of everyone in the Swifts environment – across players, coaches and staff – is team first and there are no exceptions to that.”

England Netball will launch Super League 2.0 in 2025, a more streamlined version of the former league, with just eight clubs playing in bigger venues, the move designed as a step towards full professionalism.

Wallace-Joseph joins one of the glamour teams, with Loughborough Lightning winning the grand final for the past two years, leaning heavily on their holding shooter, Ugandan star Mary Cholhok, who has joined Super Netball outfit Queensland Firebirds for next season.

Originally published as Former NSW Swifts star Sam Wallace-Joseph gets UK career lifeline after three months after leaving Super Netball