For many years the Women's Electoral Lobby (WEL) published statistics purportedly representing the coverage of female sport in what is now referred to as mainstream media.

The figures were a raw percentage of coverage of female teams and individuals in comparison with that devoted to male participants, and it told a sorry but not unexpected story.

Typically, coverage devoted to women's sport would be in the low single figures with the possible exception of those weeks when a Karrie Webb major, Australian team netball triumph or some other stupendous international achievement caused a blip on the graph.

The release of these figures, accompanied by a harshly worded press release, was intended to name and shame media outlets which were supposedly deliberately ignoring women's sport and failing to provide the coverage it deserved.

But as someone working in the print media at the time, the WEL's annual backhander tended to be something of a red rag to the old bulls in the male-dominated sports media paddock.

Rather than study those single digit percentages and immediately order a centre page spread on the Opals or lead the next day's back page with the Southern Stars, editors would glibly — and, in some cases, justifiably — defend their coverage.

"Demand and supply." "We're running a business not a charity." "We gave the tennis and swimming a good run." "Our readers just don't want to know about women's cricket or football."

Ash Barty enjoyed a career year in 2018, and is in good form ahead of the Australian Open. ( AAP: Craig Golding )

Some of these arguments held as much water as Danny DeVito's bath tub, particularly from those supposedly commercially oriented outlets that never bothered to measure the appetite for women's sport or to drive demand by providing the supply.

How were administrators to gain the money needed to improve the standard of competition and the promotion of women's sport when they did not get the coverage needed to attract sponsors or the support of vote-hungry governments?

At the same time, as a sportswriter dipping a toe into the coverage of female team sports particularly, sometimes media-resistant administrations and players could be their own worst enemy, even if the often relatively poor promotion and media relations was another chicken-and-egg funding problem.

Sorry, this video has expired Despite a sloppy day in the field, Australia still trounced England for the title. (Photo: AP)

The notable exception in the 1990s was the Hockeyroos who, with the powerful presence of coach and former federal MP Richard Charlesworth, gained more government and private funding, promotion and, inevitably, media prominence than their male counterparts.

That was back then … surely, it should be much different now.

Beyond #Sandpapergate, the biggest story in Australian sport last year was the continued rise in both the performances and prominence of female athletes.

Australia's best footballer is, unquestionably, Samantha Kerr.

Many judges believe Sam Kerr is among the best three female footballers in the world. ( AAP: Darren Pateman )

Cricket lovers have spent the summer lamenting Australia's inability to produce elite players — except those watching Ellyse Perry, Alyssa Healy and the other heroes of the recent T20 World Cup triumph.

And so it goes through the deeds the various national teams, Stephanie Gilmore's latest world surfing championship and Ash Barty's defeat of world number one Simona Halep this week to name but a few.

As former road cyclist and now head of the Victorian Office for Women and Sport in Recreation Bridie O'Donnell said on The Project recently: "At the moment it's the women's time to shine … they've become role models for all young kids."

So given their achievements and increased recognition, you might expect a dramatic spike in the day-to-day coverage of women's sport. And in competition time there has been a noticeable increase.

The AFLW particularly attracted such prominent headlines in its first season that the cave-dwelling element of AFL fandom, and even a few administrators from competing female sports, grumbled that the new league's profile vastly exceeded its quality.

The fact a women's league was accused of getting "too much coverage" in itself seems something to celebrate. Yet across the board the general media exposure does not yet reflect the rise in prominence of female athletes.

Women Sport Australia's new "sport photo action award" is a welcome initiative because it recognises that an image of a woman performing on the field is far more powerful, and empowering, than one of a female athlete in a skimpy outfit or cuddling a koala (these cheesy shots counted as "female sport coverage" under the WEL statistics).

Stephanie Gilmore added another world surf title to her cabinet in 2018. ( WSL: Kelly Cestari )

Yet there remains a discernible difference in how major male and female sports are prioritised.

Male sport coverage is predictive with an assumption readers/viewers in Sydney and Brisbane want NRL 365 days a year and those in the southern states want a 24/7 all-you-can-eat AFL buffet. So even in the off-season the most trivial "stories" are covered.

The coverage of female sport is reactive, with immediate events or achievements given greater prominence than in the past, but women's sport is disappearing altogether when there is no "news hook" or obvious angle.

No doubt the old "demand-supply" argument would be used to justify the decision to a run a story on a fringe Collingwood player with a minor off-season hamstring strain instead of a WBBL player's 50-ball century.

But even if this commercial logic stacks up, you can no longer argue there are far fewer prominent and successful female athletes from which to generate legitimate stories.

Perhaps this disparity in coverage will not change until the generation of young female participants currently flocking to sports grounds become consumers of, and advocates for, the more prominent telling of female sports tales.

Meanwhile, expect to hear about an NRL star with a sore toe two months before the first serious game, and merely hope you'll also get some insight about how the Diamonds perform during their tour of England.