Greater Western Sydney Giants star Louise Stephenson says the AFLW competition needs more rounds to thrive with her side practically ‘‘written off’’ for the season due to a loss in their second match.

Stephenson, who is a delegate on the players association, said "every single year" players push the AFL for more rounds, to no avail.

"With the recent CBA [collective bargaining agreement] they pitched to us having eight games this year and nine games next year, and then same again, the following year with nine games," Stephenson said. "We just said, we really need this competition to be growing and we need for you to take seriously the notion of building this into a bigger, stronger league."

The Giants lost out to North Melbourne in their second-round game, with Stephenson arguing that the competition needs to be longer in order to allow teams to find their feet.