Football Ferns coach Tony Readings has responded to retiring skipper Abby Erceg's criticism of the women's programme, saying the expectation of athletes in an amateur league is a "double-edged sword".
Erceg hit out at the national body over a lack of support for international players, following her retirement from the side after 130 Tests.
She described the circumstances surrounding her decision to step down as "unfortunate and unfavourable".
Readings said the players are facing a harsh reality because they're expected to train like a professional athlete in an amateur league.
"If we're going to compete with the best in the world, we have to train full-time, that's the reality," Readings said.
"If we're going to create more professional football players, we have to provide an environment here that can rival what players are doing overseas."
He admits it's a challenging environment for development players.
"It is a challenge… But from a coaching perspective we keep pushing the players to be the best they can be because we want them to fulfil their dreams of being pro players and playing for the Ferns and winning medals."
New Zealand Football has blamed a lack of resources for the environment that the Football Ferns are in.
"In the short term, the realities are going to be for us that we aren't going to be able to compete with the professional teams."
"If we can provide more for our players then great, because we want to see as many professionals as we can in the next few years and create more Abby Ercegs really.
"Losing Erceg, their most capped player of all time, is a huge loss to the side.
"We're going to be losing a world class centre back in the team and she's going to be hard to replace."
"Luckily for us in Cyprus, we're going to have her there and we've got the benefit of bringing in a couple of younger players too. So someone can take over the mantle and we'll move it forward."
Erceg is travelling with the team to Cyprus, where she will play her last four games for New Zealand.
The Football Ferns kick off the Cyprus Cup against Scotland on March 1.
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