Prospective footballers in the new national women's AFL next year insist they need to be looked after financially for the competition to succeed.

The AFL is pushing ahead with plans to establish a national women's league in 2017.

Western Bulldogs player Lauren Arnell, who represented the club in the last two years in exhibition games against Melbourne, said if the league wants elite athletes the players need to be treated as such.

"They want elite athletes so we need to make sure the resources are there for female athletes and female footballers to do the job properly," Arnell said.

Sorry, this video has expired Women coming to an AFL team near you

Details of the league are still being discussed, but one model being mooted involves up to eight teams playing a competition in the weeks before the men's league beginning in late March.

"We'll start from a base where the girls should be no worse off for playing football," said AFL General Manager of Game Development Simon Lethlean.

"As it (the league) becomes more viable, more popular and more commercial realities become available, we'll look to reward the players," he said.

Brisbane teenager Tayla Harris says players understand there will be some trade-offs to get the competition up and running.

"I could be a little bit negative and say I'm going to miss out on getting paid, but then I really want to be in the position where I can trail blaze ... and be in the first group which I think is pretty significant," she said.

Queensland leading the charge in women's AFL

Harris is one of the standout players from the Queensland system, which has become a stronghold in the women's game.

Last year, 71, 293 women and girls in Queensland played or participated in AFL programs, compared to 42, 260 in Victoria.

"We punch well above our weight compared to the traditional football states," says AFL Queensland's Craig Starcevich.

"It's quite exciting for the years to come because we've got a number of good girls to choose from," he said.

The AFL is currently running women's football academies in each state, designed to accelerate the development of talented players.

There is an urgency to the project, with the AFL keen to ensure the standard of the new competition is of a high quality.

"We won't get everything right first up," says Lethlean.

"We want to have a sustainable and viable competition for the elite girls to play in ... year two might be different to year three, we saw with the Big Bash League (cricket) how they started, year one compared to year five."

Lauren Arnell said many people were already surprised by the standard of the women's game.

"Whether they come and watch a training session or they see it on the TV or they come and watch a game ... they see that women can really play a decent brand of footy and it's worth watching."