Karlovic is looking forward to a record-breaking W-League season, in which the importance of succeeding on the domestic stage has a bigger impetus than ever.

The W-League season is sandwiched in between the two biggest women's sporting competitions on the planet, the World Cup and Tokyo Olympics.

Karlovic says the quality of these athletes is improving out of sight.

"I think it's certainly improving," he says. "The standard is definitely improving, the level of performances are improving.

"But it's really important we don't rest on that, because the rest of the world is going forward in leaps and bounds in women's football.

"Australia were pioneers in the W-League, establishing quite some time ago. So that means we have to continuously improve to make sure we don't get left behind."

From the international stage to the City of Churches, Karlovic is primarily focused on what's right in front of him: a pressure-cooker season with Adelaide, where despite a young squad announcement so far, fans will expect results.

Some W-League coaches have spoken to TWG in the off-season, remarking on the effect that the delayed W-League fixture and schedule announcements have had on their pre-season preparations.

But Karlovic isn't letting it disrupt his side too heavily. Despite a remarkable turnaround last season, Adelaide have a lot to accomplish in the off-season if they're going to build on their momentum and avoid slipping back down the table.

"It would be nice to be able to have a fixture, but from our end it's not something that I've focused a lot on," Karlovic said.

"We know that we have our pre-season and we're looking to prepare as best we can, sometimes there's things out of our control so I don't want to spend too much of my energy on that.

"I want to focus on how we can improve. I agree with the other coaches in that it would be nice if the fixtures came out, but they're not, so we continue to work."