Looming Sam Wallace-Joseph exit: How did it get to this point and the ramifications for the Swifts

Controversy has followed Sam Wallace-Joseph since early April, and it now appears she will part ways with the NSW Swifts, but unrelated to her social media post which attracted such criticism. So, how did it get to this? EMMA GREENWOOD provides her analysis.

NSW Swifts star Sam Wallace-Joseph has almost certainly played her final game for the Super Netball club after a falling out with fellow players and team officials.

The Trinidad and Tobago international’s management is in negotiations with the club over an issue with “behaviour within the team environment” and is unavailable for selection.

It comes on the back of Wallace missing the past two games for the Swifts, who have confirmed she is suffering neither an injury or illness.

How did it get to this point and what are the ramifications if a club cuts a player part way through a season?

Who is Sam Wallace-Joseph and why is she so important to the Swifts?

Wallace-Joseph joined the Swifts for the first season of Super Netball in 2017 after coming to the attention of Swifts officials at the Netball World Cup in Sydney in 2015 playing for Trinidad and Tobago. While she made her first foray into international club netball in England in 2016, Wallace, as she was then, was lured to Australia after the creation of Super Netball and joined the Swifts where she won a premiership in 2019, becoming the grand final MVP in Briony Akle’s side. She won another premiership in 2021, snaring 51 goals while shooting at 92 per cent accuracy to seal her reputation as one of the league’s most dominant goalers.

Sam Wallace-Joseph in 2017. Picture: Matt King/Getty Images

But disaster struck in the opening match of the 2022 season, with Wallace rupturing her ACL and tearing every other ligament in her knee in an injury that would eventually keep her out of the game for two years. While there was speculation over whether she could return, the Swifts backed her to return to the top level, recontracting her for the 2024 season where she made an emotional comeback to help the club lift the pre-season Team Girls Cup in front of a home crowd at Ken Rosewall Arena.

What has happened this season?

Wallace-Joseph, as she is now after marrying in the off-season, was forced to apologise after a controversial social media post regarding the Transgender Day of Visibility, which this year coincided with Easter Sunday.

The devout Christian reposted US President Joe Biden’s acknowledgment of the day along with the words: “The disrespect is crazy. Don’t play with GOD.”

The Swifts quickly responded to the post, saying they did not share her views and are allies of the LGBTIQA+ community.

*Hun*, everyone is accountable for what they post online. We all clearly don’t know you, but what you have posted goes against the values espoused by the club you represent, so we are going to point that out and express our disappointment.

— Clare B. (@ClareB07402218) April 1, 2024

“The NSW Swifts are aware of a social media post by Samantha Wallace-Joseph earlier today which has caused understandable hurt to members of the transgender community,” the club said in a statement on Easter Monday.

“The views expressed in the post are not shared by the club.

“As a club we remain committed to ongoing education of issues of social importance and commentary.

“Many members of our family, both directly within the Club and in the stands, identify as part of the LGBTIQA+ community. The NSW Swifts Club will always be their allies.”

A Netball Australia investigation determined the 30-year-old would not be charged under the sport’s Code of Conduct but determined she should take part in Proud2Play education with the Swifts ahead of Inclusion Round.

It has been confirmed Wallace-Joseph completed that training with Proud2Play – an organisation dedicated to promoting LGBTQI+ inclusion in sport and recreation.

Plenty of fan speculation conflates the current issue with the Swifts with the controversy earlier this year but the club has confirmed the two are completely different.

Sam Wallace-Joseph paying during Super Netball’s Pride round following the saga. Picture: Jason McCawley/Getty Images

What is going on now?

Wallace-Joseph was left out of the Swifts’ match-day squad ahead of their round 8 match against the Mavericks in Melbourne on June 2, with a team update on match day announcing she had been replaced in the squad by nominated player Grace Whyte. A Swifts release a day earlier had said Whyte, who can swing between wing attack and goal attack, would be elevated to the match-day squad in place of injured midcourter Maddy Proud but 24 hours later Whyte was in for Wallace-Joseph, with Jemma Donoghue joining the game-day squad as a temporary replacement player.

The Swifts headed into the game on the back of one of the worst losses in their history, a 58-33 loss to the Thunderbirds in Adelaide in which the visitors posted the lowest score in Super Netball history. Wallace finished with just five goals from seven attempts in 20 minutes on court. There was significant examination of the performance post-game, with speculation an honesty session during which all the players examined their efforts has caused a split, with suggestions Wallace did not turn up to the airport ahead of the Mavs match.

#Swifts confirm "behaviour within the team environment" the key to Sam Wallace-Joseph issue, not earlier anti-trans post. Club still negotiating with her management but she's likely to have played final game. https://t.co/CYq3MqTW0W

— Emma Greenwood (@EmmaGreenwood12) June 10, 2024

Are there lingering injury issues?

Wallace’s minutes were managed early in her comeback, including pre-season games and during the Team Girls Cup where players take part in several matches over three days. She is part of a three-member shooting unit along with Helen Housby and Sophie Fawns who all share court time. The Swifts have confirmed Wallace-Joseph’s absence over the past fortnight and ongoing unavailability for selection is not due to injury or illness.

What could happen next?

The club has confirmed it is in discussions with Wallace-Joseph’s management. Essentially it’s a sign she’s most likely on the way out, the phrase akin to “has the full support of the board”. Netball Australia, as the governing body of Super Netball, won’t be involved, with contracts binding agreements between players and clubs and any termination for them to work out. Wallace-Joseph is currently contracted until the end of the season.

If she is axed, the Swifts have 21 days from that date to name a temporary or permanent replacement player, who does not have to come from the club’s training partner ranks but can be brought in from outside the fold subject to salary cap restraints.

Is this the new norm?

While the movement of players is common in the professional male football codes, such a move fits into the “extraordinary” category for Super Netball. While clubs can only contract 10 full-time players, movement is rare, in fact almost non-existent, even in cases of poor form or some sort of discontent. The only in-season movement usually comes due to injury, in which case a temporary replacement player is drafted in while the full-time contract holder completes rehab under the guidance of the club.

Originally published as Looming Sam Wallace-Joseph exit: How did it get to this point and the ramifications for the Swifts