GRAB yourself a coffee, sit down with a copy of this year's AFL Record Season Guide, turn to page 1109 and have read of Sam Mostyn's CV.
It is a toss-up as to what you would finish first – the coffee or the CV.
Mostyn joined the AFL Commission in 2005 and borrowing from the Season Guide, her expertise covers a range of areas including "corporate and government affairs, human resources, business development, legal affairs, social inclusion and the arts".
She sits on a number of corporate, advisory and philanthropic boards and is incredibly well connected in both government and business and well as to Australia's indigenous community, and has lived in Sydney for the past 20 years.
Taking into account all of the above, she is one of the important and influential AFL commissioners. Without question, she is the most historic.
The AFL broke new ground when it brought Mostyn onto the commission in 2005. The League resolved that year, that with women comprising roughly half its membership and supporter base, that not having a woman on the commission was a glaring oversight. So Mostyn was brought on, with the League even amending a requirement that there be only eight members of the commission at any one time in order to make it happen.
Mostyn told AFL.com.au in an interview that she did her research before accepting the invitation to join the commission. She concluded that she wasn't joining an organisation with no track record of inclusiveness, but instead one that had been down that path for some time and wanted to get better.
"I looked at the causes that the AFL had taken up before then, such as tackling racial and religious vilification and it seemed to me to be broader than just an amazing sporting franchise. There was an impressive commitment to wider society," she said.
"I was excited to join an industry and an organisation that was at the forefront for change in a number of sporting and social issues as well as taking responsibility in areas where it wasn't keeping up."
Mostyn joined the commission the same year as the introduction of the AFL's respect and responsibility program, which paved the way for creating a safe and inclusive environment for women across all levels of the game.
More recently, she has been a key player in working with Richmond and the Australian Sports Commission on the research project, Gender Equity: What Will It Take To Be The Best. The end game here is for a major increase in the number of women working in the management and executive levels of the game.
In Mostyn's time in footy there have been two more women commissioners (The Honourable Linda Dessau and Major General Simone Wilkie AM), Chelsea Roffey has goal-umpired a Grand Final, Peta Searle has joined St Kilda as a development coach, Peggy O'Neal has become a club president at Richmond and concrete steps towards establishing a fully fledged competition for women have begun. Heady progress has been made across many levels
But there remains a dearth of women in football management. And Mostyn has watched as Raelene Castle has moved comfortably into the chief executive role at the NRL's Canterbury Bulldogs.
"If we we want to be a successful industry and remain as significant and popular as we are, we’re going to have to be as attractive as we can to half the population, and that's women and focusing on their careers and opportunities in footy," she said.
"I suspect in the past we haven't thought about women in the pool of candidates for those jobs, but what is happening with many clubs is that they're being encouraged to stretch their wings into areas such as the finance and football departments, which have traditionally have belonged to men."
But to focus solely on the role of women in football when discussing Mostyn is to seriously undersell her.
"We all bring different life experiences," Mostyn says of the commissioners. "I have spent many many years involved in big businesses and as a policy adviser and lawyer. Sitting on any board, you need to be highly engaged and make sure the questions are asked."
The growth of football in the northern states occupies much of the commission's time and is of particular interest to Mostyn. She argues the Sydney Swans deserve enormous praise for establishing a "strong and ongoing fan base for footy in Sydney and the ACT" and that the creation of the Giants had elevated interest in the game throughout Sydney, and particularly in the west, to new levels.
Even more importantly, the Sydney business community has come to understand the game.
"They are respectful of the brand, many will follow it, if not as their primary code and want to get to games and support a team," she said.
"They love the family-minded atmosphere at games, and the things we have done off the field in areas such as racism, multicultural, indigenous and women. People respect how we have built the industry to play a key social role."
But for all that, northern Australia and in particular Sydney, will remain tough nuts for the AFL to crack.
"We just have to be really good at everything we do and focus on how we grow this market and respect that there are many choices people here make about their sporting interests," she said.
Mostyn was not in a position to comment directly on the Michael Long's public campaign to join the AFL Commission as the replacement for the soon-to-be-Victorian Governor Linda Dessau.
"He is someone I personally deeply respect and admire and listen to a lot and I understand his frustration about (indigenous) representation on the commission. But the way the commission is structured is a matter for the chairman and the nominations committee," she said.
But she urged the AFL not to shy away from its involvement with and commitment to, indigenous Australia: "We have to keep re-examining ourselves to make sure we’re doing the best job we possibly can in every area of the game.
"The fact there are very strong programs run by (AFL head of diversity) Jason Mifsud across senior levels of the AFL is a sign we are focused and committed to doing the right things. Our indigenous advisory committee gives us very honest advice relating talent pathways, important cultural and reconciliation issues issues and our role in improving health and social welfare outcomes for children in indigenous communities around the country.
"We continue to step it up to ensure we take notice of the best possible advice around."
Once Chris Langford steps down this time next year, Mostyn will become the second-longest serving commissioner of the AFL. Only the chairman Mike Fitzpatrick will have been sitting around the board table any longer.
As her CV indicates, Mostyn has plenty on her plate. But footy has been her spectator sport of choice since her father used to traipse her to St Kilda games when she was a kid, so she still has a bit to give.
"I only do things I really, really love and have a deep passion for," she said. "I’m very good at being focused on the task at hand and with footy, I still find time to get to a lot of games, watch games on TV and follow as much footy as I can.
"It brings me great joy."
