After a long and gruelling pre-season, Sydney Swans midfielder Ryan O’Keefe says he and his team mates can’t wait for the opening bounce this Saturday afternoon at ANZ Stadium.

“It’s obviously been a long build up with the trial games and everything like that, but there is plenty of excitement around the place and all the boys are really keen to get the season proper underway,” O’Keefe said.

“I think the AFL pre-season is probably one of the longest in any code, so all the hard work that we’ve done over the past few months will come to an end now, and it’s all business now and everyone is really excited.”

“It all changes this Saturday when we play the Giants and I think it’s going to be on.”

The 2012 Norm Smith medallist said he was expecting a hard-hitting opening round clash with GWS this Saturday, particularly after their first ever win over the Swans in the first round of the pre-season competition.

“I think they are a much improved side from what I’ve seen over this pre-season campaign,” O’Keefe said.

“They are working hard, they are hard at the ball, so it’s going to be a very tough game and they are going to be fierce competitors and we’re going to need to bring our best game if we want the result to go our way.”

Heading into the Swans’ first regular season match since the 2012 Grand Final, O’Keefe said the team did not feel any added pressure to perform.

“I suppose there might be some extra external expectation’ but we know what we have to do and we need to get better from last year, and there are a lot of areas for improvement, and we need to make sure we keep going in that direction,” he said.

The midfielder added that it was now time to close all discussions on last year’s premiership and look ahead to season 2013.

“I’ve put that to bed now,” he said.

“We’ve got to move on from there, and looking over the last few weeks almost every team has improved and I think it’s going to be a really tight competition this year.”