Olympic gold medallist Cate Campbell believes the immediate success of Women's AFL and the new Super Netball competition is just the tip of the iceberg as the Australian female sporting landscape shifts into a bold new era.
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And Campbell has called on corporate backers and television broadcasters across the country to expand their horizons and target a wider range of women's sports to feed the nation's growing appetite for female competition.
"It [women's sport] is something that society actually wants and needs and it can be corporately and financially viable," Campbell said.
"Once corporates see that there is a want and a need for women's sport on television and that there are corporate dollars and it's not just a community service to put on women in sport ... that will open a whole heap of doors to a whole heap of other women's sport.
"People tend to gravitate towards the men. As a society we are shifting away from that which is a good thing, we're getting away from just watching the men's events and we're beginning to watch the women.
"We do make up half the population which does seem to be forgotten a lot of the time. A lot of girls I know want to go out, and want to watch sport, and want to watch women play sport because they can identify with that.
"People are finally cluing in and tapping into that."
The three-time Olympian made up a contingent of female sports stars at Thursday night's Women's in Sport speed mentoring evening – an initiative by Women's Health magazine offering some of Australia's brightest female stars the chance to learn from some of its most successful.
Campbell was joined by sister Bronte, former Olympic swimming teammate Leisel Jones, retired netball great Catherine Cox, and Paralympian Kelly Cartwright amongst others in a speed-dating format allowing them to impart their knowledge onto the next generation of Australia's elite sportswomen, and more experienced campaigners who have been juggling life as an athlete with full-time careers for most of their adult life.
Like Wallaroo Ashleigh Hewson, who's work as a prison officer supplements her rugby union which culminates in a World Cup in Ireland later this year.
"What it takes to be a female athlete as opposed to a male athlete is probably a lot more time management, dedication, commitment," Hewson said.
"You do it basically for the love of the game and the love of wanting to be part of a team. It's not a job you still do your normal day to day things, some people are mothers and have careers."
Jones said the instant success of AFL Women's, the new kid on the block in terms of a national sporting competition in Australia, should have a trickle down effect to a variety of other codes.
"Women's AFL has really led the charge to lead the way for the rest of the year in other sports," Jones said.
"It's increasing awareness as well to women in sport to show that it can be done if it's done well. Women's netball have done it well but women's AFL have just taken it to another level to say they need bigger venues because they can't fit the people in."
"2017, I feel like that's a long time to wait for women's sport to get really good but I think we're getting there finally."
