Dual Brownlow medallist Adam Goodes insists the Swans are 'happy' the GWS Giants are entering the competition in 2012 but says his side won't go easy on 'little brother' in their inaugural season.
Goodes, who returned to pre-season training this week after a two-month layoff that included a holiday to Bali with his two younger brothers, compared the upcoming rivalry with Kevin Sheedy's men to the backyard battles he had with his siblings as a youngster.
"We are happy that another team is in Sydney but we are the big brothers up here in Sydney," Goodes said.
"I've got two younger brothers and as a kid you always used to beat them at the games you play in the backyard, but there's no doubt they've overtaken me in some of the games that we play."
"Hopefully that sort of big brother-little brother rivalry at the start can happen and we've got a lot of respect for that football club and organisation out there."
"They've got some fantastic kids and you saw this year you only have to be off your guard a couple of percent as you saw this year and any team can beat you."
The Swans-Giants rivalry will officially begin on March 24 when the two Sydney clubs open the 2012 AFL season with a stand-alone fixture at ANZ Stadium.
Goodes knows all eyes will be on the fledgling Giants franchise in the lead up to the match but says 'big brother' is more than happy to stay out of the limelight – for now.
"I think it's great they're getting the attention," he said.
"They need it, they need it for their membership, they need it for people wanting to come to the games and if it means we're going to get a really big crowd for Round 1 then it's fantastic."
"One thing we've always been able to do up here in Sydney is train the way we want to train and get ourselves ready for Round 1 and we won't change any of our preparations going into this year and people might write us off or they might tip us for top four, that's up to them."
"But we'll go about our business here, we'll try and improve in the areas that we needed to improve on from last year and see how we go."
Meanwhile, Goodes concedes expectations are high ahead of next season after the Swans proved the critics wrong in 2011.
"I was excited this time last year and a lot of people were writing us off saying we weren't going to make the finals and we were able to go down to Etihad and beat St Kilda in the first final down there," he said.
"We're very excited about what might happen, a lot of our boys running around out there now are really excited about going to another level and really being consistent performers."
"We know our senior group are always going to give you what they can and we just need that younger group to keep coming through and keep supporting the leaders and who knows what can happen."