Netball’s night of chaos: Firebirds revolt against coach, Swifts shooting star axed over ‘behaviour’ issues

It was a night of anarchy in the Super Netball competition as one club announced the departure of a premiership-winning shooter and another playing group reportedly staged a revolt against their head coach.

First came the announcement from the NSW Swifts that they had agreed to part ways with star goaler Samantha Wallace-Joseph over concerns about her “behaviour within the team environment”.

The announcement came after weeks of speculation that Wallace-Joseph had fallen out with the Swifts, having not been selected for the past two games over an undisclosed matter the club brought in her management to resolve.

“For the past number of weeks, the Club has been working with Samantha Wallace-Joseph and her management in relation to a matter which concerned her behaviour within the team environment,” the Swifts’ statement on Thursday night read.

“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.

“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.”

The Trinidad and Tobago import, who played 84 games for the Swifts since joining in 2017 and won two premierships with the club — and was named MVP in their 2019 triumph — had returned to the court this year after sustaining an ACL injury in 2022.

Wallace-Joseph’s long-awaited return war marred after she made headlines at Easter for an offensive social media post about transgender people. She later apologised and underwent and the Swifts said she underwent training with Proud2Play.

The Swifts have repeatedly insisted her departure was not related to this incident. Neither the club nor Wallace-Joseph’s management have released further details about the matter.

Moments later, in the Sunshine State, the struggling Queensland Firebirds announced they had axed their head coach Bec Bulley less than two years into her four-year contract.

According to the ABC, Firebirds players staged a mutiny against Bulley, ousting her after approaching the Australian Netball Players Association (the players’ union) with concerns about the team’s direction.

With five rounds to go in the regular season, the once high-flying Firebirds are set to miss finals for a sixth year and, for a second consecutive year, are in the running to be wooden spooners, with just two wins from nine games.

The Queenslanders’ 71-67 defeat to the struggling GWS Giants last week cemented their spot at the bottom of the ladder and snuffed Bulley’s coaching career at the Firebirds.

Netball Queensland CEO Kate Davies said it was difficult but a “mutual decision” and thanked Bulley for her efforts.

“She has worked tirelessly to foster a positive culture at the club and has helped forge strong links to our club’s past champions. It is a legacy she should be extremely proud of,” Ms Davies said.

“With Bec’s passion, experience and work ethic, I am certain she has a bright future in the sport.”

Bulley, a former domestic and international player herself, was catapulted to Queensland to replace equally hamstrung coach Megan Anderson in mid-2022 after serving as an assistant coach to the NSW Swifts since 2020.

Her relocation was hoped to bring the Firebirds back to premiership contention, after a fall in form in the seasons since the Super Netball competition began. The team has only won six games of 17 under Bulley’s charge.

The 2024 season has been personally challenging for Bulley, too, who missed round six due to a family bereavement and needed current assistant Lauren Brown to step up in her absence.

Brown will fill in as caretaker coach for the Firebirds’ match against the Melbourne Mavericks on Sunday. There is no word on who will fill the position full-time yet.

The Firebirds cancelled a planned media conference on Friday in the wake of the news.