The Swans' Round 10 clash against North Melbourne at the SCG will see both teams battle it out for the annual Marn Grook Trophy.

The match honours the Indigenous roots of Australian football and recognises the valuable contribution of Indigenous players to the game.

Traditionally contested between Sydney and Essendon, the trophy has recently been awarded to the winner of the Club’s Indigenous Round match each season.

The Swans have won the trophy on 10 occasions since its inception in 2002, the latest was against Carlton in last season's clash at the SCG.

Marn Grook is the name given to a traditional game played during a corroboree of the Djawurrung and Jardwadjali clans in Victoria’s Western District. It is believe that this game is one of the inspirations behind Australian Football as we know it today.

The traditional game was played with a ball made from possum skin, about the size of an orange, which was filled with pounded charcoal and/or grass and was bound into a hard ball with Kangaroo sinews and then kicked and tossed by two opposing teams of up to 50 players.

The meaning of Marn Grook translates to 'Game Ball', and it is believed the founder of Australian Football, Tom Wills, observed a game of Marn Grook in the 1840's and thought it would be a good way for Australian cricketers to keep fit during the winter months.

Dual Brownlow Medallist Adam Goodes wrote of the special connection between Marn Grook and Australian Football in Geoff Slattery's The Australian Game of Football.

“I believe Marn Grook played a role in the development of Australian Football,” Goodes wrote.

“I do know we were playing a similar game for the joy and excitement of it, before the said founders of the game, Tom Wills and James Thompson and William Hammersley and Thomas Smith came along.

“I don’t know the truth, but I believe in the connection. Because I know that when Aboriginal people play Australian Football with a clear mind and total focus, we are born to play it.”

Goodes and fellow Sydney Swans champion Michael O'Loughlin will be honoured at this year's Indigenous Round game.

The player judged best afield will be awarded with the inaugural Goodes-O'Loughlin Medal, which features the blue and red colours of the Sydney Swans' specially-made Indigenous Round guernsey, designed by Goodes' mum Lisa Sansbury.

Friday night's fixture is just one of nine games which will form part of the AFL's Sir Doug Nicholls Indigenous Round.