The choice of grand final entertainment said it all. Kiss, down in Melbourne for the AFL: brilliant entertainers, but in their 70s. In the NRL in Sydney, a tribute act for Tina Turner: rugby league’s favourite singer, recently deceased.

If Australia’s two major footy codes were thinking about the future over the weekend, they were hiding it well. Fortunately, the most breathtaking trio of grand finals was conjured up by the athletes of today.

Each one had claims to the title of most entertaining ever, with lasting significance, riveting finishes, capacity crowds and huge television ratings.

The best indication of their quality was the brilliance of the losers. Charlie Cameron’s exhilarating impact for the Brisbane Lions, not quite enough to overcome the Pies. A marauding hat-trick from Jaime Chapman for the Titans, who valiantly fell short of a first premiership. Ezra Mam’s remarkable three-try haul, overshadowed by Penrith’s three-peat.

The contests left fans delirious, victors and neutrals alike. Scripts seemingly written by the administrators, like wrestling made real. The biggest team winning the AFL flag. The biggest in the NRL robbed by the greatest. An NRLW dynasty emerging in Newcastle. Outcomes better than even optimists dare fathom.

But there was, in the Channel 7 media release on Sunday, a glitch in the glory. Though the AFL’s showpiece finished with more than 3 million viewers, and marginally higher TV ratings than the NRL grand final, it did not get near the audience of the Matildas’ World Cup semi-final against England in August.

The result is not a surprise. It reflects the reality of the provincial nature of Australia’s footy codes where potential eyeballs are split mostly along the Barassi line. And it’s not some rudimentary conclusion that association football is winning the fetishised code war.

But it is a reminder of something. That there is a world out there where father-son is a relationship, not a draft exception. Where five-eighths are fractions, not ball runners. That each footy code – despite meaning everything to its protagonists – is not universal. That sports can do more than cannibalise, they can grow the pie.

The AFL celebrates its storied game better than any other. The spectacular four-day carnival that culminated with 100,000 fans inside the MCG has to be seen to be believed. The NRL consistently delivers the country’s best sports and entertainment product across stadium and broadcast, relentless in its visceral, unmissable appeal.

But the Matildas’ World Cup campaign was different. Stars once unheralded, now household names. Inspiring, and still authentic. The crowds young and diverse. Kiss, nowhere to be seen.

As advertising revenues at television stations soften, and streaming platforms splinter the audience, the boom in broadcasting dollars for sporting organisations may have passed. The conundrum for footy: where to next?

The AFL’s signature plan for growth is to tap the smallest state for a new team with a stadium funded by taxpayers. The NRL is chasing glitz, glamour and gambling dollars by launching its 2024 season in Las Vegas. There is a pledge of a reported $20m a year from the federal government to launch a team from Papua New Guinea, still yet to be accepted.

Both codes have endured fractious negotiations with player associations this year, as they search for a path to a fully professional women’s game. The deals struck have made progress, expanding pay, improving conditions and extending seasons. But they will still require many players to move for half of each year, or make a choice between chasing the sporting dreams and their fiscal and professional realities.

Then there is the issue of player safety. Litigation alleging negligence in managing players’ brain health looms. Yet efforts in both codes to stamp out dangerous play have faced strong opposition.

Footy’s next steps come at a crucial time, across Australia and beyond. The codes expressed support for the Indigenous voice to parliament, but chose not to promote the cause during the grand finals. While the referendum may soon pass, the climate crisis will not, squeezing their seasons at both ends. Sunday set a temperature record for an NRL grand final.

Change is already afoot at the AFL, where Andrew Dillon succeeds longtime chief executive Gillon McLachlan this year. At the NRL, the chair of the Australian Rugby League Commission, Peter V’Landys, is stretched across his horse racing and rugby league obligations. Despite spectacularly stewarding the game through Covid, the 61-year-old may not have the patience for long-term reform in the sport’s rugged politics.

The coming years will demand answers beyond than just hitting play on Simply the Best, or wheeling out Mike Brady for Up There Cazaly.

These bigger questions are not for fans, and not for today. The weekend’s visions – Bobby Hill in the sky, Tamika Upton’s regathered ricochet, Nathan Cleary stumbling over the line – leave room for little else. But they’re coming.

On Sunday, the clock approached midnight. At Accor Stadium in Sydney, workers busily raked away the streamers that accompanied the Panthers’ celebrations. Within minutes, all evidence of what had come before, gone. Under the iconic roofline, the storied arena, its beautiful surface, all scrubbed bare. Ready for another game.