Waratah League bosses have been criticised for providing just two referees for the Canberra Nationals' season opener while allocating three to the Canberra Gunners' game immediately beforehand.

Basketball NSW chief executive Maria Nordstrom is adamant the league will have three referees on select women's games this year while confirming the league will look to have three per game across the board in 2020.

Nordstrom denies there was a threat of a fine being dished out to Basketball ACT or the Nationals after star player Keely Froling's social media post about inequality gained traction.

Nordstrom says "it was really more of a conversation" around expectations so both parties could work out "how we can move forward together".

"We don’t do it for all games. For some games we do three [referees]. It has been a discussion with the clubs," Nordstrom said.

"Quite frankly, the majority of games do have three referees, but some games were determined to be played with two referees. We’re aiming to increase it to three across the board next year.

"It was a pre-agreement with the clubs for us at our discretion to determine which games would have three referees and which would have two. We don’t do two across the board.

"We did explain clearly where we’re at. It was unfortunate that it was the first game in which it occurred, but you’re going to see there will be three referees for a lot of the games during the course of the year, with a few exceptions."

Canberra's move into the Waratah League was inevitable after the SEABL folded with funding and fixturing complications blocking any potential move to a stronger Victorian competition like the NBL1.

But the move into the NSW state league is a step down from the level Basketball ACT's senior high performance teams were playing in at SEABL level.

Nordstrom is desperate to lift the standard of the Waratah League in the coming seasons in the hope it can become a genuine pathway to the highest level and thus attract former college players still eyeing bigger things.

"Our aim over the next three years is to really build the quality of the league. It makes sense to have Canberra playing in the Waratah League to support that outcome," Nordstrom said.

"Ultimately, we’d prefer the COE played here too, at the moment one team is going to play in Victoria and the other not at all. We’re hoping we’ll get both so we can play double-headers down in Canberra primarily in the next couple of years.

"The Waratah League has been seen as a weaker league to the Victorian league, and we’re making inroads to really have the clubs investing.

"The aim is to create more of a national format with a state lead in from the states at the end of the season. The leagues will need to be standardised and more equal in quality for that to happen.