Super Netball 2022: Queensland Firebirds rule out move for Maria Folau
Queensland Firebirds have broken their silence over Maria Folau’s links to the club, making an emphatic statement about their plans to replace star Romelda George.
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The Queensland Firebirds have confirmed they will not sign New Zealand international Maria Folau to replace Romelda George, with their pregnant shooter remaining, for now, a part of the full-time contracted squad.
The club released a statement from chief executive Kate Davies on Friday afternoon, confirming they “will not be contracting Maria Folau” for George (nee Aiken), who will miss the bulk of the Super Netball season while pregnant with her first child.
More than a week after George posted her pregnancy news on her open social media accounts, the Firebirds said they could provide “additional information around Romelda’s pregnancy announcement and the process of contracting a replacement player”.
“The club can confirm that we will not be contracting Maria Folau,” Davies said.
“When the club has officially signed its replacement for Romelda we will announce the
decision accordingly.”
Folau’s manager confirmed on Friday the star goaler, who remains in Japan with husband Israel Folau while he plays for Shining Arcs Tokyo-Bay Urayasu and recently had her second child with the controversial former Wallaby, was not in formal negotiations with the club.
However, he could not rule out an informal approach having been made to the former Silver Ferns star.
Davies’ statement though rules out Folau making what would have been a highly controversial comeback.
Davies said George remained a part of the club’s contracted full-time players and intended to play on with the club’s support.
One of more than a dozen players at the club affected by Covid during the pre-season, illness prevented her from playing at the pre-season Team Girls Cup in Melbourne last week.
It’s understood training partner Donnell Wallam, who turned in an appealing audition at the tournament, was initially told she would not be playing in Melbourne, with George originally pencilled in for the Firebirds ahead of a planned announcement.
“Romelda’s baby news is brilliant, and the club has been fully supportive of her playing right
through until she’s ready to step away,” Davies said.
“Heading into the 2022 season, Romelda is sitting on 198 games and is intending to make
it to her 200th milestone.
“Unfortunately, she has been experiencing severe illness and disruptions to her ability to
complete her training loads.
“Romelda was fully intending to play at Team Girls Cup, but due to Covid-affected
complications, particularly around dehydration, it was deemed unsafe, seeing her ruled
unavailable.”
For now, George remains a part of the full-time playing list of 10.
“Hence, the club has no ability or desire to name a replacement until she formally withdraws from the team,” Davies said.
“The club has been completely transparent to the playing group about the recruitment
discussions and will continue to do so right up until that replacement is required and
signed.”
FIREBIRDS URGED TO AVOID ‘ABSOLUTE TRAVESTY’
Firebirds fans are furious at a plan to sign retired New Zealand netball star Maria Folau as their replacement shooter over homegrown rising star Donnell Wallam – with a former Diamond labelling the move an “absolute travesty”.
Wallam, 26, seemed the likely choice to replace Firebirds long-time shooter Romelda George (nee Aiken) in the circle following her pregnancy announcement last week.
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Folau, the wife of controversial cross-code football star Israel Folau, who was sacked by Rugby Australia in 2019 after he posted a meme on social media warning that homosexuals would go to hell unless they repented their sins, retired that same year after a decorated career that included 150 caps for the Silver Ferns.
The Firebirds say they have not contracted Folau.
However, chief executive Kate Davies said in a statement the club was considering “several options” to replace George, despite having an obvious substitute in training partner Wallam.
News Corp contacted Queensland Firebirds again on Tuesday but they refused to comment on the matter any further.
Fans have reacted with fury to the possibility of Folau donning the purple dress, as much because of a potential rejection of Wallam as for the controversial views of Folau’s husband at a club that championed Super Netball’s inaugural Pride match last year – a game that will be repeated this season.
Fan Jessica Menkens labelled the move “disgusting and disappointing”.
“We have home grown talent proving themselves and stepping up,” she shared on Facebook.
“If they’re hoping to lose supporters and polarise the community then they’re going the right way about it. Wallam had a great Team Girls competition. As did the other young girls who played. Definitely losing a supporter here with a decision like this.”
Another fan shared: “If (Firebirds Qld) contract Maria Folau then you and I are done forever.”
“They bring (Folau) in, I’m done,” one fan wrote on Twitter.
So many words not appropriate for here, so I bloody well hope not! I support the team but could not continue to support them if this happened, utterly disappointed to hear this is a possibility 🤮🤮🤮
— Aleysha Thyssen (@aleyshajt) February 28, 2022
@FirebirdsQld if you contract Maria Folau then you and I are done forever. Your track record re diversity is bad enough but Folau will be the killer blow. Wallan is the one you should sign and in the wake of the Mimi debacle in 2020 you need all the diversity help you can get.
— Phanto’s Phully Pfizered (@ranto_the) February 28, 2022
Wallam, who rejected a place as a training partner with the West Coast Fever to audition for the Firebirds, showed she would not be at all out of place if given the opportunity for a spot in the shooting circle alongside Diamond Gretel Bueta and rookie Mia Stower.
Fox Sports commentator Sharon Finnan-White — one of only two Indigenous players to represent the Diamonds and a mentor for Wallam over the past year – said the 28-year-old showed she belongs at the Super Netball level.
“If you can play your debut game against an international (as Wallam did against the Sunshine Coast’s Jamaican defender Kadie-Ann Dehaney) and score 27 points, you’ve got a good future,” Finnan-White said.
Wallam went on to dominate opponents at the weekend, both as a holding and dynamic shooter, finishing with 62 goals at 85 per cent accuracy from three games, including five super shots.
Finnan-White said she wanted to see the Firebirds give Wallam an opportunity.
“I just think that the Firebirds would be mad not to keep her and sign her on because she’s proven she can deliver, she’s only going to get better,” she said.
“First and foremost, she’s an athlete that deserves to be there.
“Secondly, with the declaration of commitment (that was signed by 20 national, state and territory netball organisations and clubs in 2020 pledging) they’re going to do better for Indigenous players, coaches, umpires and athletes, it would be an absolute travesty, if they did not sign her.”
Folau is now 35 and a mother but few would put it past one of the best players of her generation to make a successful comeback.
A tilt at a Silver Ferns cap could be difficult though, with New Zealand coach Noeline Taurua, who said she was unaware of Folau making a Super Netball comeback, confirming the pathway to New Zealand selection was through the domestic ANZ Premiership (ANZP).
“This ruling has been consistent since the inception of ANZP and we moved away from the old Trans-Tasman competition,” Taurua said. “There is a process players have to go through if they wish to be selected and are playing outside New Zealand.”
Folau, like then-captain Laura Langman, was playing Super Netball when she was selected for the Ferns in New Zealand’s World Cup-winning team in 2019.
With the Firebirds’ 2022 Super Netball campaign due to start on March 27 the club has a limited time to find a new goaler.
FIREBIRDS BOMBSHELL AS STAR SITS OUT SEASON
Firebirds stalwart Romelda Aiken will hit pause on her storeyed professional netball career to take maternity leave in a move that could also deliver Super Netball’s second Indigenous player.
Aiken was set to head into a 15th season with the Firebirds but has announced she and husband former NBL basketballer Daniel George are expecting their first child together.
Just like Firebirds shooting partner Gretel Bueta, who sat out the 2020 season while pregnant with son Bobby before returning last year, Aiken will take maternity leave, with West Australian goaler Donnell Wallam expected to take her place on the Firebirds roster.
Wallam has travelled to Melbourne with the Firebirds and will play in the weekend’s pre-season Team Girls Cup with the team.
Aiken confirmed the worst-kept secret in netball when she announced her pregnancy on Instagram on Thursday morning, posting a photo of her scan and saying she and her husband were expecting “baby George”.
A strong performance in Melbourne would put Wallam in the box seat to earn a full-time contract as a temporary replacement player and the exciting goaler will be out to make a mark this weekend.
Plenty of buzz surrounds the future of the West Australian product, who was set to take up a training partner position with West Coast Fever this season before receiving an offer to train with the Firebirds.
The Noongar woman will become just the second Indigenous player in the league if she signs a full-time contract, joining Jemma Mi Mi, who has for several seasons been the only First Nations representative.
Firebirds head coach Megan Anderson invited Wallam into the Firebirds camp last month and the former Leeds Rhinos Super League shooter has not disappointed, leading to an opportunity in this week’s pre-season competition in Melbourne.
Wallam was initially offered a position as a training partner at the Fever, where she was shadowing Jamaican Jhaniele Fowler, the four-time Super Netball player of the year widely regarded the best goaler in the world.
But the opportunity with the Firebirds was too good to pass up and Wallam had been training with the team ahead of Aiken’s announcement.
Firebirds goaler Gretel Bueta – a mum to one-year-old Bobby, who is thrilled for Aiken, is excited to be working with Wallam.
“To be out on court with Donnell, she’s an incredible target for us and we’ve had a few training sessions together and I just love being out there with her,” Tippett said.
“She can turn and shoot from anywhere and she’s just soaking everything in.
“Everyone’s giving you a little pointers here and there but she’s just amazing to play with so revelling in the opportunity.”
Like Diamonds star Bueta, Wallam has a basketball background, which Tippett said is helping her in the circle.
“Donnell’s got incredible awareness of where you’re at in the court and where everyone is at and I think it’s something that I picked up when I first started playing with her, I was like wow, she’s very aware of her surroundings in court and where she is on court, and that just makes her so much easier to play with,” Bueta said.
“I love it.”
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