After helping create the culture of the Northern Stars, talent-laden defender Holly Fowler has returned "home" to be reunited with her netball whānau for the 2022 ANZ Premiership season, Merryn Anderson writes.
Holly Fowler’s return to the Stars is a homecoming in more ways than one.
Not only was she a foundation player for the Northern Stars franchise, who played their first game in 2017, but she’s slipping on the purple dress alongside her long-time friends and high school teammates.
Fowler played netball throughout high school at Mount Albert Grammar School (MAGS), notorious for their domination of the New Zealand secondary schools (NZSS) tournaments in the 2010s and producing quality netballers who'd go on to stamp their mark on the international scene.
Captaining the team to NZSS victory in 2015, Fowler played alongside Maia Wilson and Elle Temu, beating the Amorangi Malesala-led St Kentigern College, 43-32, in the final.
She was in the same year as Wilson at school; they played all their netball together and stayed close friends after graduating. They still are.
After leaving school, Fowler spent time at the Mystics in 2016, the final year of the ANZ Championship, before she signed with the Stars for their inaugural season in the ANZ Premiership the following year.
“It just feels like coming home,” Fowler says.
Plagued by two serious knee injuries in her domestic career, Fowler never took the court for the Stars in 2017, injuring her ACL weeks before the new ANZ Premiership launched.
Despite missing the season, she still had the chance to develop the brand new team in pre-season and in trainings, contributing to the Stars culture. The Stars are well-known for having a strong team identity and immersing their players’ cultures into the team.
“It’s quite a rare and cool thing to be a foundation player of a team. The first year we were there, we mainly focused on building a great team culture and making the team look how we wanted it to,” Fowler says.
While the team make-up may have changed in her time away, Fowler says the culture still feels like it did in her first three years with the Stars.
“Something that feels quite good to me and the other foundation players is that we’ve left a small mark on the team. Obviously the Stars have evolved and grown over the years, but it honestly feels like going back to the first year I was there.”
In 2020, Fowler made the move south to the Magic, where she ruptured the ACL in her other knee, in the dying seconds of their final game.
Magic coach Amigene Metcalfe retained Fowler for the 2021 season, and after nine months of rehab, she made her return to court.
“I will forever be grateful to Amigene for giving me a chance to come back,” Fowler says.
The Magic had a disappointing 2021, winning their opening match (over eventual champions, the Mystics) but losing the next 14 games to finish bottom of the table. Fowler took a lot from her time on court, naming captain Sam Winders and fellow defender Erena Mikaere as her inspiration to keep fighting after tough losses.
“[They] are players with a wealth of knowledge and kind of took me under their wings to help my game evolve and grow. I really took a lot out of the fiery determination they have on court, they let nothing affect them and will always just give it 100 percent,” says Fowler.
Even with a disrupted pre-season due to Covid, and having their first game postponed, Fowler is buzzing to get back on court in Stars colours - against the Tactix on Sunday.
“It feels so great being able to get a pre-season under my belt,” she says.
“Last year, the majority of my pre-season was rehabbing, which was fine, obviously the path I knew I was on. But it's very hard to sit on the sidelines or be running shuttles on the next court over, watching the girls train when all you want to do is just get on court and play alongside them.
“It’s been very nice to just fully immerse myself in the Stars environment and get combos going with players. I've just really been loving netball.”
Fowler was part of the Silver Ferns development squad and NZ A team before her injury disruptions, and knows 2022 is a big season for players pushing for national selection. But she's determined to put her own game first.
“My first goal is just to put out consistent performances throughout the year,” she says. “Obviously I would love to get in that black dress, but I know a big part of that will be on how I go in ANZ.”
She has the foundation to get there, set all those years ago at MAGS, thanks to coaches like Paula Smith, who this year sits beside head coach Kiri Wills as assistant coach for the Stars.
Smith was the coach of the victorious MAGS team in 2015, and worked with Fowler and her team-mates throughout their schooling, building them into competitive players.
“What I’m really grateful for is the solid foundation of basics drilled into us at MAGS. And I think going into ANZ with that foundation has meant we’ve been able to grow as players, and be able to adapt and learn a lot more at that level,” Fowler says.
She jokes about this being a MAGS reunion at the Stars: “It’s pretty special that so many of us have come out of MAGS and been able to play at this level because that was the goal when we were younger.”
The Stars have a strong defensive end this year. Kayla Johnson, who returns after time spent overseas and welcoming her first child, brought up 50 games for the Silver Ferns in her international return in January’s Quad Series.
Anna Harrison also brings her experience - the 38-year-old having such a standout season in 2021, she had to publicly state she wasn’t available for Ferns selection to add to her 88 international caps.
Primarily a wing defence/goal defence, Fowler (pictured above in her 50th national league game), can’t confirm exactly where she fits in the Stars defensive end, knowing it’s all dependent on on-court performance. But she's excited to see what combinations work.
“It’s really nice to come back and play with Ellie [Temu] in the circle cause we’re both defenders and we haven’t done that in a little while,” she says.
The Stars will be led by Wilson, one of Fowler’s closest friends, who can’t wait to take the court alongside her.
“I’m just loving watching her as captain and growing even more as a player and a person,” says Fowler.
Even though the Stars’ opening match against the Pulse last weekend was postponed, thanks to Covid in the capital side, Fowler and the team have been lucky to keep moving forward.
“The great thing about the Stars is we’re not a team of seven, we’re actually a team of 10 and every single player at training is just competing for a starting spot in the team,” she says.
“We’ve been lucky as well to have training partners stay in that environment with us and train right up to our first game this weekend. So if anything were to happen, they know our plays and they’re ready to just slot in.”
The Stars face a Tactix side coming off a heavy 17-goal defeat to the Southern Steel in their opening game. Hoping not to repeat their end-of-season woes from last year, where the Stars dropped out of finals contention after being early favourites, Fowler says the team are confident they can stay consistent, even with any Covid-related disruptions.
“Kiri has put us in a lot of uncomfortable and challenging positions, which I think we’ve needed to be able to grow and to be able to handle that throughout the season," Fowler says.
“We are really confident going into it and just excited to actually get out there and play our first game and see what we can do. And then obviously build and grow on each game every week.”
* Round 2 of the ANZ Premiership gets underway on Saturday, with the Pulse taking on the Mystics at 4.15pm. The Stars begin their campaign against the Tactix on Sunday at 2.15pm, followed by double duties for the Pulse meeting the Magic at 4.15pm. The round finishes with Steel v Mystics on Monday, 7.15pm. Catch all games live on Sky Sport.
