AFLW star Sharni Layton insists the football world will be "pleasantly surprised" by the depth of talent on show this season despite the inclusion of four new teams.

This year's competition will feature 14 clubs split into two conferences, with four new teams - Gold Coast, Richmond, St Kilda and West Coast - lining up when the season starts on February 7. North Melbourne and Geelong were only added last season, sparking questions as to whether quality of depth will be an issue.

Layton, who on Saturday attended the inaugural AFLW directors and delegates conference as a Collingwood representative, said supporters and broadcasters would see improvement in a competition that is entering its fourth edition.

"I know even from our training from this time last year to this year, we are training three times as hard," she said.

"The physicality, how much we have learnt from the game, the structure of the game, our own game plan [have improved]. I think those [new] teams will just fit in seamlessly and the standard will continue to rise because of how much we are pushing each other and how much we want the game to grow in the short period of time."