REVELATIONS that Adelaide Thunderbirds have been fined for breaching the Super Netball salary cap is a reminder of how far women's sport in Australia has come in a remarkably short space of time.
Not so long ago, Australia's elite netballers - along with the vast majority of the nation's remaining female athletes - were amateurs who needed to take time off work to chase their sporting dreams.
Now apparently a netball franchise has felt compelled to push the envelope beyond the boundaries of fair play because it couldn't squeeze a playing roster inside a salary cap of $515,000, supplemented by an additional $150,000 to help fund employment, education and/or ambassador roles.
Adelaide escaped with a $10,00 fine (plus a further $90,000 suspended for three years) after self-reporting a breach that was subsequently established to amount to almost $23,000.
It hardly rates as a Melbourne Storm-style systematic rort, but the point I'm trying to make is at least netball players are now able to earn a half-decent quid from the sport that they once played purely for love.
Last season the average Super Netball salary was $67,000, rising to potentially $75,167 over the next two years under a collective-bargaining agreement.
The minimum wage is set to increase from $30,000 to $33,000.
It's not enough to set any of them up financially for the rest of their lives, but at least they can claim to be earning a living as professional athletes.
And surely that is only fair, given that Super Netball has secured a five-year broadcasting deal with Channel Nine and Telstra and its matches invariably pack out indoor arenas.
Myriad other codes are in a similar position.
On Friday night the Matildas played Vietnam in an Olympic qualifier at McDonald Jones Stadium, and it's fair to say the Newcastle Jets would be delighted to attract such a healthy attendance to any of their games this season.
The Matildas, of course, are now a brand name who attract a strong following wherever they play.
As the world's seventh-ranked team, they go into any tournament with realistic hopes of challenging for the trophy, and in skipper Sam Kerr they have a player who rates in the highest echelon.
The Socceroos, in contrast, are ranked 44th internationally and face a battle each four years just to qualify for the World Cup, let alone entertain thoughts of progressing beyond the group stage.
Kerr, incidentally, recently signed a deal with Chelsea reportedly worth almost $1 million a season, a far cry from the pittance Newcastle's Cheryl Salisbury earned during her record 151 games for the Matildas, many of which were as captain.
The advent of the W-League, in 2008, has been at least partially responsible for the rise of the Matildas.
While the W-League salary cap ($450,000 this season) is comparatively modest, players are at least entitled to the same minimum hourly rate as their A-League counterparts.
First and foremost, however, they get to compete on a weekly basis in a national league that gives them every opportunity to state a case for Matildas selection.
Likewise, the prospect of women playing professional Australian rules, rugby league and rugby union - which would have been unthinkable when I was a kid - is now a reality.
The AFLW, especially, is a juggernaut, expanding from an eight-team competition in its inaugural season, to 10 teams last year and then 14 teams this year.
Last season's grand final, between Adelaide and Collingwood, attracted a crowd of 53,054, which gives an indication of how quickly AFLW has captured the imagination.
In comparison, the four-term NRLW, in which each team plays their rivals once in a round-robin format, seems something of a token gesture. The sooner it can expand, preferably with a team representing the Knights, the better.
Newcastle would also appear capable of accommodating a team in the Women's National Basketball League, once the proposed complex at Hillsborough has been built.
Only a handful of players in the WNBL earn serious coin, but as a competition it has managed to stay afloat since 1981, in the process helping sustain a national team, the Opals, who once again will be podium contenders at the Tokyo Olympics.
Our benchmark women's sporting side, however, by Sunday night could be our cricketers, who play India in the World Cup T20 final at the MCG.
The game is likely to attract the biggest crowd ever to attend a women's sporting event. More than 50,000 tickets had been sold a week ago, and there is talk that the MCG will be close to a full house.
It shapes as an iconic occasion that will inspire a future generation of champions to follow in the footsteps of Meg Lanning, Alyssa Healy and company.
Later in the year, coronoavirus permitting, the likes of Ash Barty, Cate Campbell, Jessica Fox and Sally Fitzgibbons will be among the leading candidates to win medals for Australia at Tokyo 2020.
All of which suggests it's time for Aussie men to collectively take note, put down our beers and lift our game ... before we get left behind.
