Like so many great sporting characters that have come before her, Wallace's inspiring tale began on the pristine beaches of Trinidad, where the Caribbean Sea merges with the Atlantic Ocean in the Central American paradise.

It's a country that has produced cricketers Brian Lara and Dwayne Bravo, Olympic gold medal winner Keshorn Walcott plus sprinters Ato Boldon and Richard Thompson – each more flamboyant than the last.

And Wallace certainly adds to the trend.

She responded positively to Swifts coach Rob Wright's overtures last year, fending off interest from Adelaide, Saturday's opponent, and West Coast to join the Sydney club "because it's red and my national colour is red, white and black".

She knocked down 34 goals from 37 attempts on her Swifts debut in the five-point loss to the Giants last Saturday night before offering the following assessment of her performance against Giants goalkeeper Sam Poolman: "I'm not criticising her but she can't mark me to be honest, I have much confidence in myself that's why I'm saying this."

That performance, and the instant combination she developed with fellow shooter Helen Housby, suggested her transition into Australian life had been a smooth one.

"Australia is like Trinidad minus the partying," Wallace said.

"The way you party and the way we Trinidadians party is two different things. You party with your hands, we party with our waist – in other words we twerk.

"It's totally the same, chilled people, the environment is really calm. Every car passing would be blasting music in Trinidad whereas here is really quiet."

Wallace grew up in the village of Toco in the north-east part of Trinidad, a good hour-and-a-half drive from Sangre Grande where she'd travel three times a week just to train for netball.

That often meant leaving straight from school to attend training, and arriving home after midnight three times a week.

"In Toco it's really small, it has no KFC outlet, no mall to shop, you have to travel like an hour and 15 minutes to shop and buy food and get groceries," Wallace said.

"It has a beach. I grew up with two brothers so I was in the bush playing with them, running up and down, going to the river, belting down mango trees. I was really a tomboy because I was the only girl.

"My mum always argued: 'Come on Samantha come and play with the boys', and my father was like: 'Leave her alone', so it was a push and tug.

"Toco's really nice, really calm, no violence. It's really peaceful, you can go out whatever time you feel like."

Wright spotted Wallace in 2015 at the Netball World Cup which was held in Australia.

He wanted to go and speak with her at the airport after the tournament but was stuck in the customs line and didn't get the opportunity.

The seed was planted however. When she joined English Super League team the Hertfordshire Mavericks, Wright was able to scout her properly and upon the formation of the Super Netball competition, which has no cap on imported players, Wright pounced.

"I saw a number of games at the World Cup and I thought there was something about her, she can shoot, she can move she's a good athlete," Wright said.

"She's a big-time player she loves playing in front of people and loves competing. She has a huge beaming smile on her face when she gets to go out and play.

"She's very witty, she's funny she's just a different personality and I love it. We have some quite unique characters in our team and I just think that's great."