National women's sevens coach Tim Walsh revealed on Monday he would release a number of players from the Olympic champion Pearls squad to play in the eight-team tournament, which will run from August to October in the world series off-season.

The decision means the game's big names, including world player of the year Charlotte Caslick, Ellia Green, Emilee Cherry and Shannon Parry, could be on hand to share their knowledge and experience with the next generation of potential Olympians and professional sevens players.

"It's positioned strategically at a time that will allow us to let the contracted players out and play," Walsh said at a promotional event for the upcoming HSBC Sydney Sevens.

"To have that experience and to give it back to the up and coming talent is really important. We're going to support [the competition] as much as we can because it's only going to benefit the elite level and the game in general. It's a really important facet."

The ARU are finalising the list of universities that will take part in the inaugural season after receiving 25 expressions of interest from institutions in every state and territory bar the Northern Territory.

Bond University on Queensland's Gold Coast appear at short odds to join the competition after hiring former England sevens international Ben Gollings to coach its women's sevens team and develop the code in the region.

Gollings, who also holds the world record for most points scored, is working under director of rugby Sean Hedger, a former assistant coach at the Melbourne Rebels.

Walsh said the competition was a vital development for the sport if Australia wants to maintain their position at the top of the pecking order.

"It will take time to build up, just like the [National Rugby Championship], but it will create that extra level for people to play at," he said.

"Four years ago when these Olympians started, most of them hadn't played much footy at all, now they're world-class Olympic athletes. There's a pretty big gap there, so that gap has to be filled, whether it's through the academies in the states, the universities competition ... it needs to be a continuous run through for our footballers and potential footballers."

The Australian men's and women's teams are busy training for the Sydney Sevens, which starts on February 3 at Allianz Stadium. The men will be hoping to put behind them a disappointing Olympics campaign and recapture some of the magic that helped propel them to the cup final in Sydney last year. The women, coming off the back of a cup final loss to New Zealand in Dubai at the end of last year, are intent on cracking the winner's circle again.

Caslick said the loss was a well-timed comedown for the team after the excitement of their world series win and Olympic gold.

"Leading into Sydney if we hadn't lost to the Kiwis it would have been over 18 months [unbeaten] then, which is a lot of pressure going into that tournament," she said.

"In a way it shows us that we're beatable and we have a long way to go and we have so much to work on. I think it was a good thing and a blessing in disguise. Hopefully it will get the girls working even harder for this season.

"When you're so used to being at the top and then you're not there anymore, it makes you hungrier to get back there. That will be good for us."