SAM Stynes remembers clearly the day her husband was told the AFL wished to forever acknowledge his remarkable contribution to the game.

It was last December, shortly before Christmas, and Jim Stynes was in the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, fighting the illness that he knew would shortly take his life.

The AFL had been discussing ways to publicly acknowledge Stynes in the form of an award bearing his name, and league boss Andrew Demetriou visited him shortly before what would be his final Christmas.

Demetriou had intended to only make a brief visit to the man he had known both on and off the field to ask him which award he felt best suited his legacy.

It was agreed that the AFL would create the Jim Stynes Community Leadership Award to recognise community work among AFL players.

Speaking publicly on Wednesday for the first time since her husband's funeral in March, Sam Stynes said what was meant to be a brief chat turned into a long discussion about two of Stynes' favourite topics - football and helping the community.

"He was pretty gravely ill at the time and Andrew and Jim were originally going to talk for maybe 20 minutes and maybe two hours later (they were still going)," she said.

"That was one of Jim's final conversations about AFL and Reach [the youth organisation Stynes co-founded] and where he stood professionally in terms of what could go forward with his legacy and the award. Jim was very happy with it as well, and he would obviously be delighted that Reach is also part of this great award."

Sam Stynes will sit on the judging panel for the award along with Demetriou, an AFL commissioner, a Reach representative and an AFLPA representative. From next year onwards, the previous year's winner will also join the panel.

Two months have now passed since her husband was laid to rest, and Stynes admitted adjusting to life as a widow meant she was not fully across the field of potential candidates for the award bearing his name.

"To be honest I have had my head in a bucket of cancer sand for the past two years, so I'm probably not as educated as what I'd like to be with what current players are up to in the community," she said.

"But I'll research fast and take great interest in what's going on and put that research into effect by helping choose who will receive the award."

Luke Holmesby is a reporter for AFL Media. Follow him on Twitter @AFL_Luke