Chloe Singleton would love to see the WNL's progress marked by more European places for Irish clubs.
The Galway midfielder insists a top three finish is not beyond her team this season - currently the westerners are in fifth place - but at present only the champions get to qualify for European competition.
"That's sort of hard, it would be nice if it was the top two or three as it would give clubs more of a chance to get recognition and get more experience, which would be huge," said Singleton.
"It's still good that the top team gets into the Champions League. It's a major ambition for every club, that's the environment they want to be in.
"It's going to be a great experience for Shels this year, whether they are hosts or not hosting. There's more recognition now and with SSE Airtricity coming on board as Women's National League sponsors, this is huge for the game.
"There has been massive growth in the women's game with TG4 showing and streaming games.
"Our games are free on LOITV while RTÉ has come on board a few times - they showed highlights of the Shelbourne-Peamount game last weekend."
That Shels pipped Peamount to become last season's champions was down in large part to Galway, who staged a thrilling comeback from 2-0 down in Greenogue to beat the Peas 5-2 on the final day.
Singleton, 21, had spent a year with Peamount's summer league team while still in school and felt awful for her friends in the team.
"It was a very weird feeling," recalled the NUIG arts student who hails from Athlone and has made Galway her home.
"We were very happy but we did feel remorseful towards Peamount - they had just lost everything really and it was down to us.
"I love all the girls with Peamount. Off the pitch we're all friends. I roomed with Stephanie Roche in Ireland camp and Sadhbh Doyle played for Galway and is now with Peamount.
"So we didn't want to go cheering and celebrating, we wanted to be respectful. But honestly, it was bizarre.
"We like being underdogs but also want to be known as the team that should be reaching those levels so that it's not a shock when we win those games.
"We were trying to take that into this season. We need to be kicking on from those performances but need to find more consistency."
Singleton was called into the Ireland senior squad for a qualifier with Montenegro by interim manager Tom O'Connor.
Current boss Vera Pauw was first introduced to the players as the new manager but Singleton has only made a few home-based Ireland squad since then.
She admits her club mate Savannah McCarthy's progress as an international has encouraged her to think about pursuing a pro career.
"Savannah worked on herself for over a year and got herself into the starting 11 consistently in the women's national team," said Singleton.
"This definitely motivated me because I never really had the drive to go further.
"But in the last two years, especially after being in one camp with the senior squad, this helped my motivation.
"I'm going into final year in college in September, I'll see this out and then see where I'm at.
"I'll do another year with Galway and hopefully be knocking on the door of the senior team."
The FAI and SSE Airtricity are committed to improving the environmental footprint of Irish football. The Football Association of Ireland (FAI) and SSE Airtricity, title sponsor of the SSE Airtricity Premier, First and Women’s National League, continue their ambitions to improve the environmental footprint of Irish football. The initiative - 'Different League’ will see every club across the leagues given access to internationally recognised sustainability accreditation experts GreenCode. #DifferentLeague
