Australian Olympic Committee boss Matt Carroll delivered the blunt warning in a pitch for smarter investment in sport, saying success in the NRL and AFL could mean failure for Australia’s Olympic team.

Carroll said Australia was staring failure at home Olympic and Commonwealth games because of a $2 billion shortfall in government funding.

“Not everyone wants to be a rugby league player. Believe it or not,” Carroll told the National Press Club on Monday.

“What the Olympic and Paralympic and Commonwealth games sports get told is ‘there is no more money’.

“A few weeks later, as we get closer to elections, there will be a new stadium or an extension or a high-performance centre (for a NRL club).”

The AOC wants the federal government to establish a dedicated federal department of sports to fight what it says is a chronic decline in investment.

Carroll estimates $200 million a year over a decade is needed to 2032, when Queensland hosts the OIympics.

Victoria is home to the 2026 Commonwealth Games.

“I’ve worked for two of the biggest sports – rugby and football – where they generate billions of dollars in broadcast revenue. Congratulations on them,” he said.

“But what I’m saying is, to make meaningful investments into sport, you can’t just say ‘we’ll give $100 million there and $2 million there and three over there’ without any actual strategy to what you’re doing.

“Don’t just spend money in one spot without actually thinking about the whole strategy and the investment in sport across the country.”

Carroll said the situation was dire as individual sports struggled to make ends meet due to inflation costs, making preparing for competition difficult for athletes.

The proposed structure for a department of sports would merge existing agencies such as the Australian Sports Commission and National Sports Tribunal to provide centralised services.

A minister of sport would have direct access to the prime minister therefore ensuring a sporting voice in government, Carroll said.

He cited the example of the Australian men’s volleyball team as one of many elite sports suffering.

In 2019, the Volleyroos were ranked 13th in the world and finished second at the Asian Volleyball Championships.

The team narrowly missed qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics held in 2021 due to limited Olympic places.

“The consequences? The dollar-starved Australian Institute of Sport assessed the Volleyroos as having no Olympic medal potential,” Carroll said.

Investment in the Volleyroos was cut from $1.4m to zero, leaving Australia with no prospect of qualifying for the 2024 Paris Olympics – they’re now ranked 39th in the world.

A similar scenario was impacting the Australian women’s hockey team, Carroll said.

Funding for the Hockeyroos was cut by a seven-figure sum by the AIS in December 2021 after they were deemed as lacking winning potential at the Paris Games despite being ranked fourth in the world.

Last year the Hockeyroos won bronze at the women’s World Cup and took silver at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, and are now ranked No.3 in the world.