JOHN DAVIDSON/PHOTOSPORT

Holly Fowler has returned to action with the Northern Stars this year after missing the 2017 season due to injury.

Holly Fowler was one of the Northern Stars' first signings, but by the time she got to take the court for them, more than half the team around her had changed.

A promising defender who starred for Mount Albert Grammar School as a teenager, she was one of several players who left the Northern Mystics for the Stars when the trans-Tasman league ended and a second Auckland team was created at the end of the 2016 season.

Last year was supposed to be her second season of senior netball, but before it began, she suffered a serious knee injury, and was ruled out for the year, missing not only the Stars' inaugural ANZ Premiership campaign, but also the Netball World Youth Cup, which New Zealand won.

So when she took the court for her Stars debut on May 6 against the Mainland Tactix, almost 14 months after she would have been expecting to make it, it was a long time coming. Only three of her original team-mates - Kayla Cullen, Fa'amu Ioane, and Maia Wilson - were still around.

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Fowler, 20, has predominantly played goal defence or wing defence so far in her career, but has popped up at centre in the Stars' last two games.

"​It's been a learning curve for me," she said. "I think I'm just excited, because learning a new position is like adding more skills to my belt with netball. I'm extremely lucky to have coaches like Kiri [Wills] and Temepara [Bailey], I've learnt so much in that sense as well, and I'm still learning a lot from them, so I couldn't be happier."

A leader in her secondary school days, Fowler can't speak highly enough about the Stars' environment.

"We all get along with each other really well," she said. "We've been able to create a culture where we're quite open and honest, so if we're not happy with things, we just go up to each other, sort the issues out, and it just makes us a better as a team if we're able to solve those problems without having any conflict. We just love learning as well, so we're happy to take on any input that anyone else gives us."

The Stars are yet to register a win, three games into the season, but all of their losses have been close ones, and they have earned two bonus points for losing by five goals or less. One of those came last Wednesday in Christchurch, where they led or were tied with the Tactix for all but the final 11 seconds of their 49-48 defeat.

"Personally, I was just in shock," said Fowler, when asked how she felt at the end of that game.

"I couldn't believe it. I was a bit speechless really. We had a good debrief about the game and what we needed to work on moving forward, so hopefully we'll apply that this weekend."

They might be winless, but Fowler says the Stars remain buoyant, and they will have an excellent chance to get on the board on Sunday, when they host the only other winless team, the Waikato-Bay of Plenty Magic, at Pulman Arena, their new home court in south Auckland.

​In round four's other games, the Mainland Tactix host the Northern Mystics, on Monday night, and the Central Pulse host the Southern Steel, on Wednesday night.

 - Stuff