Netball: 'Honorary scarfie' returns with Tactix to face Steel

Demelza Fellowes will be wearing red and black tomorrow, but the former Southern Steel defender says she still has a bit of blue and gold at heart.

Fellowes (34) played for the Steel in a dreadful 2012 campaign - where it won just two of its 13 games - before moving to Brisbane to play for the Firebirds the past two years.

She is now back with the Tactix, the team for which she made her ANZ Championship debut in 2008, and is looking forward to playing against a bunch of former team-mates.

''A lot of those girls, despite being half my age, are still my very good friends,'' she said.

''My first stint in New Zealand was in 2007 with the Otago Rebels, so I was an honorary scarfie at heart when I came back in 2012.''

Fellowes still owns a house in Dunedin, but has been trying to sell it ''for a while''.

''I love it so much. If I could have put it on a truck and taken it with me, I would have,'' she said.

''I don't know if the future holds anything for me in Dunedin, but the house is still there. A little touch of Otago still with me.''

In addition to playing with Shannon Francois, Wendy Frew, Storm Purvis and Te Paea Selby-Rickit with the Steel in 2012, Fellowes played with Gina Crampton and Stacey Peeters for Otago the same year.

Fellowes earned her 62nd ANZ Championship cap when the Tactix lost to the Northern Mystics in the opening round of the competition last week, and does not expect any surprises from the Steel in Invercargill tomorrow.

''It's not hard to know what to expect,'' she said.

''They've got Jhaniele [Fowler-Reid], who is just an enormous target. You can't not pay attention to the speed through the midcourt with Francois, Crampton and Frew.

''Their defenders are coming together nicely with the combinations. You can't take them lightly, despite being a bit inexperienced.''

Boosted by a ''great summer'', Fellows is so far loving her experience in Christchurch. But at 34, she knows her netballing days could be numbered.

''I have to be realistic and look at where the old bones are going,'' she said.

''I have noticed my age in the last year or so. I've got to make sure the body can keep up and also that I'm offering enough for the team to make sure it's worth keeping me around.''

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