The president of the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC), John Coates, has accused his rival, Australian Sports Commission (ASC) chairman, John Wylie, of "relevance deprivation".
The two men have a long history of disagreements over how funding for sports is allocated.
"Well, he's finished in six months. He's gone," Mr Coates said of Mr Wylie in Sydney on Wednesday.
The latest disagreement between the two powerbrokers of Australian sport is over when sports should receive funding, and the existing cuts to some sports since the Rio Olympics.
The ASC is the body that funds sports.
John Wylie stated his position in an article for The Australian newspaper, when he called for a unity ticket between the ASC and the AOC on the issue of funding.
"We believe the right time to review high-performance programs will be after the Tokyo Games, when results and facts will be on the table," he wrote.
On Wednesday, Mr Coates hit back.
"They seem to me like mutterings of a man who has relevance deprivation, coming up with just six months to go," he said.
"My disagreement with the position taken by their chairman is that he says, 'Well, let's talk about funding after the Games', and we can't be putting off this debate until afterwards, otherwise we'll lose another six months."
He said he'd just taken a phone call from the coach of the Olyroos, Graham Arnold, about funding.
"He's looking for some money now to support his team training in Japan as a preparation [for the Olympics] and they were one of the sports that were reduced [in funding]," Mr Coates said.
"We've been critical of the fact that some sports have had their funding reduced. We're critical of the criteria being just medals."
He also took exception to the concept of a "unity ticket", saying, "We'll never be tied to some unity ticket that might in some way affect our independence".
Asked whether accusing Mr Wylie of "relevance deprivation" would help smooth the waters in the relationship between the two men and their respective bodies, Mr Coates' answer was: "He's gone, he's gone in six months."
Mr Wylie's term as the chairman of the Australian Sports Commission ends in November this year.
The two men had previously clashed publicly at an athletics meeting in what witnesses described as an "expletive-laden" exchange.
The ABC approached Mr Wylie for comment, but he declined.
