He imagines a swarm of girls playing on temporary courts marked on the club's oval, then watching a national league derby on the big screen nearby. Perhaps some water slides, one staffer suggested, slightly tongue-in-cheek. Except that it's not a joke. Call this a sporting Disneyland. Or netball nirvana. Eddie does.

"It's never been done, so why not?" McGuire says. "I think of it from a media point of view: the photo that would be on the front page of The Age; the shots from the [Channel Nine] telecast of hundreds, thousands, of kids playing netball out there, I just think it would be a wonderful thing."

To tweak one of McGuire's favourite lines, it's been a big week in netball. And so, by extension, given the sport's huge participant base and growing profile, for women's sport in general. Following on from the May announcement of Australia's biggest (women's) broadcast deal came its richest collective payday.

Nothing near what the football codes can offer – well, offer men, at least, for the moment – or anything like what our leading golfers, tennis players and NBA exports pocket each year, but a major stepping stone nonetheless. And, ker-ching, with numbers that would have been unimaginable just 10 years ago.

A revolution is underway. "It's like team sport heaven," laughs former national cricket captain Belinda Clark. "We've gone from having to be a really good international individual athlete, really, to 'OK, well now we're talking about playing in a team sport in some of our country's most treasured sports, and making a living from it'."

Belinda Clark believes the time has come for women's sport. Photo: Ryan Osland

The 200-player draft for the AFL's inaugural eight-team women's competition is being held next month, team applications having been notably oversubscribed. The Women's Big Bash League is popular, lucrative, and a free-to-air ratings success. Soccer's Matildas built a huge following in reaching the quarter-finals of the 2014 Women's World Cup. One of the feel-good stories from the Rio Olympics was the pioneering rugby sevens team, another side playing on less traditional female ground. And winning, while a vast audience watched, and appreciated.

"I think that this past 12, 18 months will be seen as a really significant turning point for women's sport," says the Australian Sports Commission's outgoing executive director, Simon Hollingsworth. The former Olympic track athlete nominates the three main measuring sticks as high-performance results (big tick, as usual), participation (positive, although teen attrition remains an issue) and the commercial aspect (growth still too slow but at least there is some).

For McGuire, the veteran TV sports personality and commentator whose all-powerful club will also field a women's football team next year as the culmination of an almost-10-year ambition to operate its own female franchises, is this the moment? "Unequivocally, yes. Not only is it the exposure in the media and, yes, the money's coming in, but there's a genuine sense of excitement.

"I've always felt that part of the reason that women's sport probably suffered was that whenever they approached media organisations it was almost to 'do us a favour' and 'we deserve' whereas now it's 'hey we're giving you the opportunity to tap into this unbelievable market of excitement and a genuine commercial gain' as much as anything.

"You want to be in it, not out of it now. I just think there's been a shift in the balance from 'is this a worthy thing?' to 'is this something that's worth something?' And I think it's very 'worth something' now. There's never been a better time."

Still, "about time", may be a sentiment that resonates just as loudly. There are choices now. Pathways. See rainbow/pot of gold. There is more competition than ever for the best athletes, and more at stake. No longer is it a given that women will gravitate towards the gender-traditional sports.

"Competition in the marketplace makes everyone lift their game and sports have to start their new women's competitions on the right foot," says Carol Fox, the president of Australian Womensport and Recreation Australia, noting that the longstanding skew towards the "white male market" has been a reflection of society in general. One that has changed. Needed to.

"Cricket, AFL, soccer and netball all want to be the No.1 sport in Australia. To be No.1 you have to have the best talent and competition. Netball knows that if it wants to attract and keep the best talent it has to offer the best pay and conditions to its players. Cricket Australia is also out in front offering fair terms and conditions to female players. The AFL is now behind and will need to start paying female athletes a fair and competitive wage to be competitive in the drive to have the best talent."

Keeping pace: Cricket Australia has long led the charge for offering female players a competitive contract. Photo: Getty Images

There is much ground to recover. ASC research published in 2015 shows that horse racing receives more airtime than sportswomen on TV news bulletins, only 7 per cent of broadcast media time is devoted to women's sport (men: 81 per cent), and that the commercial spend is less than 10 per cent. "If you take tennis out of the mix, it's shocking. It's disastrous, it's really bad," says Hollingsworth of the latter. How bad? "Half that much. Less than 5 per cent."

So is there still the obstacle that viewers want to see "the best", and thus why choose women's footy, or basketball, when there's a men's game on? Faster, higher, stronger, and all that?

"There are a lot of arguments put forward that women's sport is not as physical and not as good to watch," says Women on Boards executive director, Claire Braund, whose organisation this week released a damning pay-related update on a report into the gender metrics in global sport.

"Yet this is really just an example of bias at play. Had our culture been used to seeing women, rather than men, play football and rugby for generations, we would find the idea of men playing these games a bit novel. It's all a matter of perspective."

Hollingsworth says perception remains an issue. "That is a bit of a barrier for some people, who are saying 'I'm watching a lesser quality of the sport and therefore it's not interesting'," he concedes. "But that's probably a greater challenge for some sports that are emerging from one might say the shadow of being 'traditional male sports'."

In Rio, relative rugby sevens novice Hollingsworth enjoyed the women's competition – they did win, too, which helps, he concedes – as much as the men's. The athleticism, the contest, the contrast. "The men's hits were a bit bigger, but the women's game to watch was terrific, so part of breaking down this perception is as people see more of it they realise 'hey, this is actually fantastic to watch' and in traditional sports like swimming, track and field, tennis, it's just part of the norm that you see amazing feats.

"My understanding is that when people watch the Olympic Games they don't say 'Oh, I really want to watch the men's 100 metres freestyle versus the women's 100m freestyle'. Sometime it is a bit personality driven, so obviously Usain Bolt sees a bit more of a focus in the men's 100m at the moment ... but the viewing figures for male and female sport at the Olympics are not dissimilar."

Domestically that has not been the case, but recent developments are promising. Surprisingly stellar ratings for last year's AFL women's exhibition game between Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs were a catalyst for the AFL to establish a national league, named this week as AFL Women's. The recent Saturday night ratings bonanza for the follow-up clash emphasised the competition's vast potential.

At the grass-roots level, female football participants have tripled over the last five years to 284,000 – and now make up more than a quarter of all those who play the game. Initially, the pay at the pointy end may be modest, and controversially so – up to $25,000 for marquee players, and a minimum of just $5000 for the brief six-round-plus-finals season – but that is sure to grow as the league does.

While a relatively late starter, the AFL has the advantage of a core audience waiting to tap into a deep, deep well of football support – which is a daunting prospect for other sports nervously guarding their own turf/court/sprung floor. And, of course, their athletes, with Hollingsworth predicting there will be a "war for talent" as the longstanding successes of national teams such as the Opals (basketball), Diamonds (netball) and Hockeyroos finally translate into positive commercial outcomes.

It's time for the Australian Diamonds' success on the court to be sufficiently rewarded off it. Photo: Getty Images

At Collingwood, all three teams will feature in the club photo and on the honour boards next year, share resources, expertise, rehabilitation sessions, and world-class facilities. "I laugh now, because the young footballers come in and go 'oh, this is normal'. Well it wasn't, five minutes ago," chirps McGuire. "And this is going to be the new normal for girls. Instead of going 'oh, aren't we lucky that someone gave us an orange', they're going to come in and say' well, we expect this, this is the level'."

Recently, he has also noticed a major attitudinal change at sports symposiums and the like. "I think there's always been a feeling – and quite rightly so – in women's sport, that 'it's not fair, the boys get all the go, they get all the money, they get all the facilities, it's not fair', and as we all know in life, it's not fair. But what I'm seeing now though is that no-one talking about 'is this fair'? Or is this going to work?' It's 'we can't wait, this is going to be massive'."

As for cricket, Clark recalls that as recently as 1997, following the World Cup victory in India, the then-student and her teammates arrived home to a bill for about $1000 each for their expenses, including team blazers. The white knight was a sympathetic publican in country Victoria who paid the $20,000 bill himself. Yet if that was the nadir, then it was also the catalyst for substantially more support, and now rewards; to the point where the best cricketers playing Twenty20, the burgeoning short form of the game, and for the national team, the Southern Stars, can earn healthy six-figure incomes.

It is overdue, certainly. "Why has it taken so long?" muses Clark. "Considering the success that female athletes have had in this country, it's mind-boggling why that's the case, but nonetheless I think the momentum's started to grow in the past six to 12 months because we've seen some changes in broadcast decisions, we've seen some success, and – speaking from a cricket perspective – it's about having a live broadcast of quality sport.

"If you're a boy watching sport, you sort of see some obvious lines between 'me and that thing I see on the television', and now we've got enough [sport] played by females on television. We've always had tennis, but the explosion of the WBBL ... the netball's going well.

"I think now it's become a commercial decision as opposed to a charitable decision."

So McGuire has his netball Disneyland dream and an all-time cricket great the exciting new reality that is Australian team sport heaven.

Waterslides may be optional, but more bold progress is inevitable. As McGuire says of Collingwood's decade-long preparations for its foray into women's sport: "It was a good idea that was ahead of its time, but now its time has come."

What Australia's sportswomen earn

AFL

The AFL is still negotiating rates with the players' association. The league's offer includes $25,000 for marquee players, $10,000 for top-level draft picks and about $5000 for everyone else – the majority of players.

Cricket

In the Australian team the Southern Stars, each player gets a retainer of between $40,000 and $65,000 a year, plus additional match payments and tour fees, which amount to about $20,000 annually.

The Women's Big Bash League players earn at least $7000 a season, with a maximum of $15,000.

Players in the Women's National Cricket League earn up to $11,000 a year.

The best women cricketers in the country can earn more, about $100,000 a year if they play for the Southern Stars and in the WBBL.

Soccer

Top-tier players in Australian soccer team the Matildas earn a base salary of $41,000 a year, second tier players get $30,000. Match fees are paid in addition to that amount – $560 for a standard match, more as they progress through big competitions like the World Cup. Match fees will increase annually over the next few years.

In the domestic W-League there is a salary cap of $150,000 per team, but most clubs do not pay out that amount. Clubs only need to spend a minimum of $35,000 on their teams' wages and according to reports some women are not paid at all.

Netball

Under the new pay deal announced this week, 80 contracted players in the new national league will share in a $5.4 million salary pool. Average salary jumps from $40,000 to $67,500 with minimum pay up from $13,500 to $27,375. Other benefits of the landmark pay deal include two years of income protection in case of injury or pregnancy and private health insurance contributions of up to $1500 a year.

Basketball

Players in the national team the Opals are paid $120 per training day and $250 a match, which depending on the year can amount to between $5,000 and $15,000 annually.

Opals players also earn money from playing in the WNBL or in overseas competitions. If they take home less than $60,000a year they may also qualify for a grant from the Australian Institute of Sport.

There is no minimum or maximum wage for women playing in the domestic league the WNBL, but they are reported to earn an average yearly salary of between $20,000 and $30,000.