New Australian Sports Commission boss Josephine Sukkar wants to end hostilities with Australian Olympic Committee

But mending the rickety bridge with the AOC will take all of her skills after years of bitterness between the bodies, in particular AOC president John Coates and the outgoing Wylie.

What started as a dispute over funding models degenerated into outright warfare at times, with Coates saying last year the relationship was dead in the water after what he perceived was interference from Wylie in the AOC election campaign of 2017.

Sukkar said she would draw a “line in the sand” and make moves to bring the ASC and AOC closer together, suggesting that there was little point trying to foster teamwork in sport if they were unable to lead by example at the top.

“I do know John from the Sydney business community. And he was instrumental in helping Rugby Sevens become an Olympic sport, which was amazing for us with the girls winning gold in Rio,” Sukkar said.

“And I look forward to a good working relationship with John. Gosh, we need to, that speaks for itself. We have Tokyo on our doorstep, the Brisbane bid. Here we are talking about team sport and if we can’t do this well at the top there is no hope for Australian sport at the bottom.

“It just has to work. I have come into this as a clean skin and it’s not helpful to look backwards. I just need to draw a line in the sand from February 8 and move forward.”

Coates said Sukkar’s appointment was a step in the right direction for the two bodies as she undertakes the initial steps in her three-year term.

“I know Josephine to be a well-credentialled business person and significant supporter of women’s rugby. A good start,” Coates said.

How to best fund sport, from the bottom to the top, has been the subject of circular debate in Australia for decades and Sukkar has already found out how many sports are trying to get their piece of a limited pie. Finding a balance between public and private funding, as well as fostering engagement with volunteers, will be one of the central metrics of success or failure.

“How is it already started? I don’t start until February 8 and people are already asking for meetings. Clearly, when we are passionate about our sports, people are having a go and I love it. I want to hear the presentations and briefings,” Sukkar said.

“One of the challenges is to make sure everyone is heard but it’s a balance. If I try to get to everything I’ll fail at everything. It’s just not going to be possible. I need to make sure every community gets heard but if I physically sit down with everybody, I won’t have time to get anything concrete done.”

It’s clear Sukkar will have a heavy focus on community sport and participation, with her rugby experience suggesting it’s vital to feed the roots for the rest of the plant to flourish.

“My exposure, and I think this would be most people’s experience, is you feed the base of the pyramid. If we focus on the grassroots of sport and get that formula right, the high performance aspect will look after itself by and large,” Sukkar said.

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“If there are no athletes coming through, who is going to fill that high performance pipeline?

“I know sport, I know how to run a business. This is the time to lean in rather than watch on the sidelines and think how I would have done it differently. I’m going to try and support the government with the biggest levers it has, which is the funding.”

Whether that approach pleases Coates and the AOC remains to be seen, especially with the prospect of another home Olympics on the horizon in 2032. But the desire for an overdue truce can only be a good thing as sport begins to peer out from a period of unprecedented challenges and uncertainty.