Professional Footballers Australia (PFA) are currently negotiating a collective bargaining agreement for the national women's team whose contracts with FFA expired on December 31, 2009.

The hope is that a core nucleus of 23 players will earn contracts, but how much those contracts will be worth is to be negotiated.  

However,  striker Walsh is concerned that the campaign could be compromised by part-time preparation.

Thhe Matildas star and World Cup 2007 player points out that if some players have to work full-time over the next five months, it could very well undermine Australia's bid for World Cup qualification.

And it's a campaign made all the more difficult by a tough qualifying group, to be played in China and the loss of key players in what is a transitional Matildas side in 2010.

If Australia didn't qualify for the 2011 World Cup, she argues the momentum gained from the successful launch of the W-League in 2008 and the Matildas' triumphant 2007 World Cup - where they roared into the quarter-finals before a Marta-inspired eventual champion Brazil defeated Australia 3-2 - would be lost.

"It'd be horrible to miss out on the World Cup. It's not an option to not qualify," the 26-year-old forward told au.fourfourtwo.com.

"It'd bring two years of almost no internationals and no-one wants that. It's not good for the women's game, or the W-League.

"There are so many things at stake here, not just the games. There's funding, and everything is based on results," she added.

It's become a pressing issue and one national women's coach Tom Sermanni wants cleared up by the time the national team gather in Canberra on January 14.

"We have an in-principal agreement with the FFA," PFA Chief Executive Brendan Schwab told au.fourfourtwo.com. "I think we'll certainly be able to reach an agreement where there's at least 23 players on retainer agreements.

'Whether those retainer agreements are at a level that would achieve what we would describe as meaningful conditions for full-time players, that's still be negotiated."

He added: "Whether we achieve that in this round, or when the negotiations take place for an agreement from July, that's still to be resolved.  But there is an agreement from both parties to establish that core nucleus.

"The question is; at what level should they be renumerated?"

 Australia have been drawn against traditional women's football heavyweights China, rising power South Korea and Vietnam in Group B of the eight-team World Cup qualifying tournament.

Australia must firstly finish first or second in their group, with the best four nations to play-off in the semi-final stage of the qualifying tournament in China next May.

The top three teams in the tournament will qualify for the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup to be held in Germany.

The Matildas have lost several players to retirement since the last World Cup including midfielder Joanne Peters and defensive stalwarts Di Alagich and long-serving skipper Cheryl Salisbury.

National coach Sermanni wants the issue to be resolved before the team gets into camp.

"The Matildas have made enormous sacrifices over the years but we have to be also realistic. The earning power of the women's game is nowhere near the men," he told au.fourfourtwo.com.

And he added there are complications with players having to drop everything for five months to train full-time with the national team.

"The ideal would be a club team situation for the national team," he said. "But it's more complex than that - players have to move, give up jobs, study, so it's not that simplistic to say let's put 25 players on full-time call for me."

Walsh added that the 2007 World Cup results were an indication of the potential of Aussie women players to be world beaters if given the financial backing.

"Around 90% of the girls were working can you imagine what would've happened if we were professionals? We got those results doing it hard," she said.

"The girls cannot have nine-to-five jobs. If the girls are going to be on their feet with jobs eight hours a day, how can you expect them to train at night properly with World Cup qualifiers coming up?"