Wolves Women defender and captain Anna Morphet shares her matchday routine and superstitions.
First thing
The first thing I always do is get dressed and brush my teeth! But seriously, I'm not really a good in the morning person. I'm one of those people that gets everything ready the night before. I don’t really trust my memory to remember everything, so the easier I can make the morning, the better.
Food and drink
It’s pretty similar every time. If it’s a home game, we get the breakfast provided and it’s always a good old classic beans and scrambled egg on toast. If it’s an away game, I'd probably just choose something depending on how I feel that day. I would have some porridge or a bagel with banana and honey, which I quite like. But the other day I had some sweet potato ahead of an evening game and that really hit the spot.
Talking a good game
It varies really. At home games, we all have our same seats at the tables for breakfast, and I’m on one with the likes of KJ [Katie Johnson], Jade Cross, Beth Merrick. Milly Robertson, who has signed recently, has come and joined our table, which is nice. Then for away games, if we’re meeting at Compton and getting on the bus, it’s whoever you see first. I don’t have much in the way of routine. KJ and I might have a short pre-match chat, but that’s just more as mates, rather than about the game.
On the headphones
I would normally just listen to what’s been put on in the changing room. I have to admit that Robbo [Beth Roberts] is a good DJ. I like a bit of Avicii or Macklemore or Eminem, but I’m quite happy to go with whatever’s on in the changing room or whatever the girls put on the speaker on the bus. They normally have a good few tunes to choose from, so as long as it’s upbeat and gets you ready for the game – because it’s very chilled up until the game, so that’s when you need to get in the zone – then I’m happy and I’m easy.
Bus buddies
Similar to how we all have our tables at home games, when we go away on the bus we’re usually in the same seats – maybe we’re all just creatures of habit! I’m usually next to Robbo on a table with Amber [Hughes] and Thommo [Bec Thomas]. But as the journey goes on, you might get a bit of floating about and chat with other people, but I think most of us gravitate towards the same place every time. Normally we’re all quite chill and we’ll sit and chat. For the longer journeys, we might download something to watch, but I think I need to remember to take some card games a bit more often as they’re always good to fill the time.
At the ground
Usually I just go and take a look at the pitch and just get a feel for it. We’re quite a chilled group, so the changing room is quite relaxed and we’ll be having a chat and getting each other ready, while letting the others get on if they have certain routines. I’m not too strict in anything I do, but I always put my right boot on first and then my left, which has got to be tight. I think that’s because I’m going to use it more often – I rarely use my right! Then before the game, we just kick the ball about before we go into a proper warm-up.
Game mode
For the group, music is the big one to get them in game mode, but for me, I’m quite chilled. The time after the warm-up is where everyone switches on and gets in the mood and gets focused. I just want to keep the tempo of the warm-up high, make sure everyone is feeling good, keep everyone feeling relaxed, and a good atmosphere in the changing room, so as soon as we step out onto the pitch, we’re going to give 100%. As captain, I obviously focus on what I’m going to do in my job, but I like to make sure others are also at their best. But we have a good group and there’s all sorts of different leaders and different people who ensure everyone is looking out for each other.
Post-match plans
After the game finishes, the first thing we’ll always do is clap the fans and go over to them to show our appreciations. We’ll take pictures and say thank you to them because they’ve been brilliant for us this season, as they are every year. Then if we’ve had a big win or an important win, there’ll be a bit of dancing in the changing room, we’ll get some good music on, then, after, we get to the post-match food. At away games, we’ll see what’s on offer to us, but the best Sundays are when I get home and my dad has decided to do a roast. That really is the cherry on top. I think the ideal post-match scran every week would be a roast, but that’s only on special occasions.
Switching off
I’m not the type of person who can immediately move on when a game finishes and after every match I always have a quick post-match debrief with my mum, then when I get home, a bit of a more in-depth one with my dad, where we just chat about the game. But once I wake up the next morning and have to go to work, it forces me to move on from it and that switches my mindset. With football, you have to be able to switch off from it, and usually by the time Sunday evening comes, I’ll be pretty chilled out again and ready to go to work on Monday and not dwell on things.
This article originally featured in Wolves' official 2025/26 matchday programme. Last season's programmes are still available to purchase online through retailers Curtis Sports.
