Wolves Women captain Anna Morphet has put pen-to-paper on a new contract as she prepares to lead out the side once again during the 2025/26 FAWNL season.
Having been a key part of Dan McNamara’s since arriving from Aston Villa in the summer of 2018, the influential defender took over the armband on a permanent basis last summer following Anna Price’s retirement and continues to go from strength to strength.
Still only 24, Morphet displayed her significance to the team last season. After making history by becoming the first ever women’s player to sign contracted terms with Wolves, she stepped into her leadership role with aplomb and has also grown into one of the finest left-sided centre-backs in the Women’s National League.
With her trusty left-foot continuing to provide some stunning strikes in gold and black – including the team’s most recent goal of the season winner last campaign – McNamara knows there is still plenty more to come from his skipper during the next 12 months.
“I’m delighted to get the captain over the line and we’re really looking forward to the season ahead with her,” McNamara said.
“Anna’s been a huge part of everything that we’ve been doing since she joined the club. I know what her goal is, I know what she wants from her football and hopefully we can work together for the next season, at least, to make that happen.
“Keeping her at the club is equally important from a playing perspective, but also from a captain and role model perspective, because she’s a leader within the group. She leads in a different way – she’s not a shouty-shouty person at all, she leads by example with the standards she holds, not just at training, but in games, as well as away from Wolves.
“We often talk to the players about how they’re developing their own profiles in and around Wolverhampton and further afield, and it’s really important they act the ‘Wolves Way’ in and out of a tracksuit and you get that from her. Everything she does is to the highest standard, so I’m delighted she’s going to be leading this group into 2025/26.”
During her first season as a contracted Wolves player, Morphet was again one of the key members of McNamara’s side, as the defender reached 170 appearances in Old Gold, while also notching her 55th goal for the club – a record which even some forwards would struggle to match.
And as more of the squad are secured on part-time terms this summer, McNamara believes Morphet is the prime example for all of his players to follow, both on and off the pitch.
“She’s developed so much as a player, but also as a person. You’ve seen physically with Morph – she’s an athlete now, and I think that’s down to the tireless work of the physical performance team, getting her in more and having four contacts with her during the week. Having her in around the place for what she brings off the pitch is brilliant for me and the staff, so hopefully we can keep building on it.
“This season, it’ll be the same as it always has been – lead by example and set the standards because she understands what I want from a group and she understands what my standards and values are as a manager. Very rarely do I need to get involved with setting standards because the players do that themselves, and that comes from the leaders, such as Morph.
“That’s first and foremost what we’ll get from her, and then second, I want to see some more worldie goals with that wand of a left foot of hers. We talk a lot about Morph being a fantastic person, but she’s also an incredible left-sided centre half, and I’m not too sure there’s many better left footers within tier three all over the pitch, never mind as a centre half, so I’m really looking forward to seeing some more goals from her and more all-round great performances.”
