Whyman and her Western Sydney Wanderers teammates played 12 preliminary rounds this season, a stark contrast to the men’s equivalent, the A-League, where teams have 27 rounds to rise to the top.

“As much as it’s (women’s soccer in Australia) come a long way, it still has a long way to go,” she said.

W-League teams play rival teams once before finals; ideally Whyman would like to play in a home and away competition.

“If you lose three games in a row, you’re out, you don’t get the chance to rebuild, whereas in the A-League, you have more time to redeem yourself,” she said.

“It’s such a short season for spectators, and only some of our games are televised.

“The men are still going.

“It would be nice to play each team twice.”

Next season, there will be an extra W-League team in the competition, Central Coast Mariners, filling the bye round with another week of play.

“That will be good, to play another round,” Whyman said.

Whyman only needed 12 rounds to make her mark.

At 17, she was named as the reserve goalkeeper in W-League team of the season, second to Matildas’ goalkeeper, Melbourne City’s Lydia Williams.

“I was stoked for that,” she said.

“I wasn’t expecting that at all. It’s awesome to be there, with some of Australia’s top players, especially Lydia Williams.”

Whyman has continued training in the off-season between the W-League and NSW Premier League, kicking off in March.

“I’m feeling really fit after the W-League,” she said.

“As much as my body needs a break, that’s just not me.”

She has missed her W-League teammates, who she trained with every morning, and she’s glad that Angelique Hristodoulou and Rachel Lowe will play on her NSW Premier League team.

Whyman has been named NSW Institute captain.

It will be a new challenge; the closest she has come to captaining a team was being part of the leadership group on a NSW Country squad.

“It was a good surprise,” she said.

“I’m glad my coach has a bit of faith in me.

“Our first training session was on Saturday, it wasn’t the best, he said we have to keep pushing ourselves.

“I’ll be helping out the younger ones, I’m really looking forward to helping Ange and Rachel.”