There’s the Western Derby, the Adelaide Showdown and the ANZAC Day clash, but this weekend it’s Sydney’s chance to get a taste of true cross-town rivalry.

Known as fiery clashes and games that divide a city’s support, derbies regularly rate as stand out matches throughout the AFL season.

This year, the AFL has designated a stand-alone fixture to mark the very first Sydney Derby between the Swans and GWS.

While the majority of the Swans team has not had the chance to play in an AFL derby,  former Adelaide Crow Marty Mattner told sydneyswans.com.au about the excitement and atmosphere of playing in a cross town derby.

“I guess at Adelaide it was very much sort of a finals atmosphere,” he said.

“Everyone got involved and there was a lot of media coverage and the town was divided into two and you were either a Power supporter or a Crows supporter.

“In Adelaide it was all everyone spoke about at work or even just down the street or whatever, so hopefully we can get that in Sydney and have people start to talk about the game and I guess the promotion of the game as well.”

Mattner said the key to a great rivalry was getting plenty of fans to the ground to support the two sides.

“I think the big thing is getting a big crowd. If we can get a big crowd out there then that’s what these games are all about, getting the big crowds and throwing your support behind the team that you barrack for,” he said.

“A great crowd is the number one, and if you do get a great crowd then usually the atmosphere is pretty good.”

Mattner said he hopes to see the Sydney Swans and GWS derby contest develop in the years to come.

“(Derbies) are a pretty big week,” he said

“It might take a few years, but hopefully we can start getting that rivalry.

“Each team should get their supporters behind them and a big crowd would be great at ANZ Stadium on Saturday night.”

Fellow Swans player Mitch Morton has also had a taste of cross-town derby action.

In fact, the former West Coast forward kicked his first goal in a Western Derby in 2005.

“I scored my first goal in my second game, it was in the Derby over at West Coast against Freo,” he said.

“It was huge. I think it was the second quarter and we won that game by 17 or 18 points.

“I kicked the goal from 50 and it just snuck through, I didn’t think it had enough on it and it was floating and it just went in, and I was pretty pumped.”

Morton said he is confident the Sydney Derby will be a success, but said the Swans will not be underestimating their opponent, GWS.

“I think (the Sydney Derby) will be huge from day dot, no doubt,” he said.

“GWS showed (in the NAB Cup) that they can be competitive and I think it doesn’t matter who you play or where you play you can still compete.

“I think the 18 people who take the field for Sydney and the 18 people who take the field for GWS will have a dip and it will be on.

“I think we’re a lot more advanced and everyone is expecting us to win, but football doesn’t always go like that and we’re going to have to work hard to win."

Mattner agreed that the Swans will need to be well-prepared for the first Sydney derby on Saturday night.

“We had our review (on Monday) about our game on the weekend and from today (Tuesday) onwards it’s all about the weekend,” he said.

“The boys are training at the moment so they will go through some stuff we didn’t do very well against Gold Coast on the weekend and some stuff we want to improve on against GWS. “

Memorable Derbies

Western Derby - Round 21, 2000
Fremantle 15.11 (101) defeated West Coast 15.10 (100)

Seven players from Fremantle and five players from West Coast were reported for melee involvement in what will be remembered as one of the fieriest derbies in the west.

With both teams out of finals’ contention and nothing but pride one the line, the match turned into a physical contest with severe repercussions, including Derek Kickett being suspended for a total of nine matches for striking Phillip Read twice and Andrew Embley once, Michael Gardiner suspended for two matches after striking Matthew Pavlich and Brad Dodd suspended for also striking Phillip Read.

The physicality of the match aside, the result went down to the wire, with Fremantle scoring a one-point win and their first ever derby victory.

Showdown VII - Round 7, 2000
Adelaide 14.14 (98) defeated Port Adelaide 13.13 (91)

The Round 7, 2000 Showdown looked as good as over for the Adelaide Crows, who trailed Port Adelaide by 42 points early in the third quarter.

But Crows forward Mark Ricciuto wasn’t willing to back down, notching up over 40 possessions and kicking four goals for the day.

With Ricciuto taking control, the Crows turned it on in the final turn to register a 49 point turnaround to win by seven points.

ANZAC Day - Round 4, 1995
Collingwood 17.9 (111) drew with Essendon 16.15 (111)

In front of a crowd of 94,825, Collingwood and Essendon battled it out in the first ever modern day ANZAC Day clash.

In what was a close encounter from start to finish, James Hird was the stand out for the Dons, while Saverio Rocca was superb up forward for the Pies.

Rocca took what was one of the marks of the year and kicked a goal to level the scores at the 28 minute mark of the final term.

Nathan Buckley had the chance to snare victory with seconds remaining, but instead opted to pass the ball to Rocca, which was cut off just before the siren sounded.