GEELONG believes it has been blindsided by the AFL's reluctance to expand the NAB AFL Women's competition until at least 2019.

Disappointed Cats CEO Brian Cook said the apparent shifting of the goalposts was unfortunate as the club's plans for a women's team were based on being included in the competition in 2018. 

He is also worried that any delay could mean the Cats lose local talent to existing clubs next season.

There are already three players from the Geelong local area playing for Melbourne's AFLW team in 2017.

"We had expectations of being in the competition in 2018. And we shaped our structures around women’s football to suit that," Cook told the club's website. 

"We might be spending somewhere around $250,000 to $300,000 this year to ensure that we have a really strong team to enter the AFL probably next year.

"We've been planning for it. We've budgeted for it. We've structured for it. We've gone out and recruited people on that basis." 

Cook's comments came after AFL CEO Gill McLachlan told a media briefing during the week that the League was likely to delay AFLW expansion until 2019.

McLachlan said his initial view was that the competition needed to consolidate despite the roaring success of the opening round.

"I think his original view was we should expand the competition in 2018. That's changed," Cook said.

Geelong, St Kilda, North Melbourne, Richmond and West Coast were given provisional licences after applying for and missing out on the initial competition.  

Geelong is fielding a team in the VFL Women's competition this year and appointed Paul Hood to coach the team.