That's the call to arms former Matildas coach Alen Stajcic has issued as Football Australia (FA) and the Australian Professional Leagues (APL) embark on a new chapter following leadership changes.
Stajcic is among sportspeople feted in this year's Australia Day Honours List, receiving a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) just days after being sacked by A-League Men outfit Western Sydney.
"There is one person out there who likes me, at least," Stajcic joked.
The sport in Australia is governed by two organisations, with the APL overseeing the A-Leagues after splitting from FA in 2020.
Both bodies have undergone executive changes in the new year as they look to revitalise the sport amid financial strife.
Former CEO of AFL club Fremantle Steve Rosich has been tasked with strengthening the national leagues, while experienced broadcast executive Martin Kugeler has taken the helm at FA ahead of this year's women's Asian Cup and men's World Cup.
Stajcic, who believes Australian football has "got too many CEOs", is calling for the end of politicking from within.
"I just don't feel like we're all pulling in the same direction," Stajcic said.
"We're not big enough to not be united. We're too far away from the rest of the world.
"Unless we're a united sport with one vision, then it's just going to be too hard for us."
Stajcic easily called back to his time as Matildas coach from 2014 before being axed in 2019.
The Matildas reached an all-time high ranking of world No.4 under Stajcic at the end of 2017 - a feat which earned him a nomination for FIFA's women's coach of the year award in 2018.
"It proves that it can be done," Stajcic said.
"I just know the amount of hard work that we put in, especially women's football, when no one really cared - I started back in the late 90s.
"Just to think what we all went through to get to the point where the Matildas were virtually the best team in the world.
"To see it live out in real life is a real testament to how much work and sacrifice we all put into that endeavour.
"And there's no doubt for me that the Socceroos and Matildas can be the best in the world if we do strive for that."
Stajcic had also made waves among A-Leagues fans for a blunt post-match appraisal of the state of the game last December - a moment he described as his "soapbox moment".
"They'd be booing me one second, but privately after the game, fans from opposition teams would come up to me and acknowledge how much it did resonate with them," Stajcic said.
The sentiment was also echoed by current Matildas boss Joe Montemurro, who agreed the sport in Australia had an inferiority complex.
"I did hit a nerve with a lot of football people, but words are cheap," Stajcic said.
"We need to do it in action as bodies, as national bodies and all the stakeholders in the game."
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