Nova Peris has announced she will not re-contest her Senate seat at the July 2 election, but AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan has refused to be drawn on whether she will take up the competition's most senior indigenous position.
Peris has been linked to the role recently vacated by AFL head of diversity Jason Mifsud.
"All I'd say is that clearly Jason's role will be replaced," McLachlan said.
"We're running a process and that's been ongoing.
"We've got some high-quality candidates.
"I'm not going to say any more than that."
McLachlan wouldn't say whether Peris had been approached for the job, describing the recruitment process as "confidential".
"When we have an announcement we'll make it," he said.
Peris became Australia's first female indigenous federal politician in 2013 after a controversial call by then prime minister Julia Gillard.
The 45-year-old announced on Tuesday that she would not re-contest her Northern Territory Senate seat for the ALP, saying she had never envisaged being a career politician.
The sporting allrounder claimed Olympic hockey gold for Australia at the 1996 Atlanta Games before switching to athletics, where she won gold in the 200m at the 1998 Commonwealth Games.
Fairfax Media reported that Peris was among the candidates for the AFL position, naming Reconciliation Australia chief executive Justin Mohamed as another frontrunner.
It came as the AFL on Tuesday launched this weekend's indigenous round under the name of Sir Doug Nicholls.
