Northern Stars

Northern Stars are a New Zealand netball team based in South Auckland. Since 2017 they have competed in the ANZ Premiership. The team was named after the Matariki star cluster which is also featured on the team's logo. They were grand finalists in 2019 and 2021.

Northern Stars

Founded	2016
Based in	Papakura Takanini
Regions	East Auckland South Auckland
Home venue	Pulman Arena
Head coach	Temepara Bailey
Captain	Maia Wilson
League	ANZ Premiership
Website	starsnetball.co.nz
Uniform

History

Formation

After Netball Australia and Netball New Zealand announced that the ANZ Championship would be discontinued after the 2016 season, Netball New Zealand subsequently replaced it with the ANZ Premiership. The founding members of the ANZ Premiership included the five former New Zealand ANZ Championship teams – Central Pulse, Mainland Tactix, Northern Mystics, Southern Steel and Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic – plus a brand new franchise, the South Auckland-based Northern Stars.^[1][2][3][4] The team was named after the Matariki star cluster which is also featured on the team's logo. Former Melbourne Vixens head coach, Julie Hoornweg, was named Stars inaugural head coach and Leana de Bruin became their first captain. Other members of the inaugural squad included vice captain Courtney Tairi plus Kayla Cullen, Maia Wilson, Malia Paseka and Sulu Fitzpatrick.^{[1][4][5][6][7][8][9]}

ANZ Premiership

Since 2017, Stars have played in the ANZ Premiership.^[4][10] They were grand finalists in 2019.^[11][12][13] In 2022, Stars were grand finalists for a second time.^[14][15][16]

Regular season statistics

Season	Position	Won	Drawn	Lost
2017[17]	5th	4	0	11
2018[18]	6th	4	0	11
2019[19][20]	3rd	6	0	9
2020[21]	4th	5	3	7
2021[22]	4th	9	0	6
2022[23]	2nd	11	0	4
2023[24]	3rd	9	0	6
2024[25]	5th	2	0	13
2025[26]	6th	1	0	9

  Grand finalists

Grand finals

ANZ Premiership

Season	Winners	Score	Runners Up	Venue
2019[11][12][13]	Central Pulse	52–48	Northern Stars	Te Rauparaha Arena
2022[14][15][16]	Central Pulse	56–37	Northern Stars	TSB Bank Arena
2023[27][28][29]	Northern Mystics	74–56	Northern Stars	Globox Arena

Home venues

Since 2018, Stars main home venue has been Takanini's Pulman Arena.^[30]

	Years
Pulman Arena, Takanini[30][31][32][33][34]	2018–
Vodafone Events Centre[4]	2017
ASB Kohimarama, Auckland[4]	2017

Notable players

2025 squad

2025 Northern Stars roster
Players	Coaching staff
Nat. Name Position(s) DoB Height Charlie Bell GS (2001-05-21) 21 May 2001 (age 24) 1.97 m (6 ft 6 in) Kate Burley WD, GD, GK (1997-04-23) 23 April 1997 (age 28) 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) Monica Falkner GS, GA (1996-04-08) 8 April 1996 (age 29) 1.81 m (5 ft 11 in) Remi Kamo GD, GK (1993-11-25) 25 November 1993 (age 31) 1.87 m (6 ft 2 in) Tori Kolose (TRP) WA, C, WD (1999-09-17) 17 September 1999 (age 25) 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) Lisa Mather C, WD (1999-07-04) 4 July 1999 (age 26) 1.71 m (5 ft 7 in) Samon Nathan WA, C, WD (1992-12-07) 7 December 1992 (age 32) 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) Greer Sinclair C, WD (2000-09-26) 26 September 2000 (age 24) 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in) Mila Reuelu-Buchanan (vc) WA, C (1998-05-11) 11 May 1998 (age 27) 1.72 m (5 ft 8 in) Lili Tokaduadua GD, GK (2004-09-24) 24 September 2004 (age 20) – Maia Wilson (c) GS, GA (1997-09-21) 21 September 1997 (age 27) 1.87 m (6 ft 2 in)	Head coach Temepara Bailey Assistant coach Leana De Bruin Manager: Debra Charteris Physiotherapist: Sarah Fanuatanu Strength and conditioning: Barrie Jennings Notes (c) – Captain (cc) – Co-captain (vc) – Vice-captain – Injury / maternity leave (TRP) – Temporary Replacement Player
Player profiles: Team website	Last updated: 28 June 2025

Internationals

 New Zealand

Temepara Bailey Leana de Bruin Gina Crampton Monica Falkner Sulu Fitzpatrick Ellen Halpenny

Anna Harrison Kayla Johnson Amorangi Malesala Grace Kara Storm Purvis Elle Temu

Anna Thompson Courtney Tairi Mila Reuelu-Buchanan Malia Vaka Maia Wilson Katrina Rore

 England

• Ama Agbeze

 Fiji

• Kelera Nawai-Caucau
• Afa Rusivakula

 Samoa

• Julianna Naoupu

 South Africa

• Leana de Bruin

 Tonga

• Vika Koloto

 Trinidad and Tobago

• Daystar Swift

Captains

	Years
Leana de Bruin[4][8][9][32][35]	2017, 2019
Grace Kara[36][37][38][39][40]	2018, 2020
Maia Wilson[33][34][41]	2021–

Coaches

Head coaches

Coach	Years
Julie Hoornweg[4][5]	2016–2017
Kiri Wills[32][33][34][42][43][44]	2017–2024
Temepara Bailey[45]	2025–

Assistant coaches

Coach	Years
Temepara Bailey[4][32][46]	2017–2020
Paula Smith[33][34][47][48]	2021–2024
Leana De Bruin[49]	2025–

Main sponsors

Sponsors	Seasons
Robinhood[50]	c. 2020–

Reserve team

Since 2017, Northern Comets have competed in the National Netball League. They are effectively the reserve team of Northern Stars.^[51] Comets were originally governed and managed by Netball Northern. However in November 2019, Northern Stars began to directly manage the team.^{[52][53][54][55][56]} In 2019, Temepara Bailey was appointed Comets head coach.^[46] In 2021 she guided Comets to the NNL grand final.^[57][58]

Honours

• ANZ Premiership
  • Runners Up: 2019, 2022, 2023