Speaking at the Swans’ final training session before Derby IV, the coach said he expected the rivalry between the two sides to grow with each contest.
“What you’ve got is a rivalry between all clubs in AFL footy and it’s some sort of rivalry because they are your competitors, let alone a team that’s in your home town,” he said.
“It’s just a natural thing that is going to build up and it’s going to build up over time I’m sure.
“I’m sure everyone expects it in the coming years to build and that’s probably a good thing for the game.”
While the rivalry is still very new for both sides, Longmire said the Swans could not afford to underestimate the young GWS side this Sunday, saying their recent form, including a tight loss to the Western Bulldogs last week, demonstrated that the visitors are making improvements each week.
“The most important battle will be the one that is going to happen on field with our players versus their 22 players,” he said.
“We’ve looked at what they’ve been able to do this year and they played really well against Geelong, in particular, a few weeks ago.
“They got out of the blocks and played a super game and there were only two goals difference at three-quarter time.
“We then saw last week what they did against the Bulldogs and they maybe were a bit unlucky to lose the game, so we look at what their best is able to do and we plan for that.”
While the rivalry alone is set to interest fans across Sydney, Sunday’s curtain raiser between the Swans reserves and UWS is also set to turn heads, with young forward Gary Rohan set to make his long-awaited return to the field.
The Swans formed a guard of honour for Rohan at today’s training session to celebrate his return this Sunday, which will come 448 days after he fractured his tibia in round four last year.
Longmire said the playing group was thrilled to hear that the Swans’ number 16 back will be back on field this weekend.
“We don’t care whether he doesn’t touch the ball, we just want him to get out there and cross the white line and run around with a big grin on his face, which I’m sure that he’ll have,” he said.
“He won’t play a lot of game time but he’ll get a small taste of it.
“He’s an important player for us and we want to make sure he gets through this next step OK.
“The players can’t wait to see him. They’ve enjoyed just having him out on the training track.”
