GWS and Sydney want to build rivalry as big as Collingwood and Carlton’s, Heath Shaw writes

I’D LOVE to have the Giants get to where Collingwood are, where everyone wants to beat you. The thing about the Magpies is you either love them or you hate them, writes Heath Shaw.

Heath Shaw and Lance Franklin face off during the Sydney derby. Picture: Phil Hillyard

AT Collingwood I loved the fact that everyone was out to get us and I’m starting to get that feeling at the Giants.

There’s plenty of talk about people not liking the Giants because of all the talent we have. The more success we have, and the more people keep talking about the talent we have, makes us feel like we belong in the AFL.

The rivalry with the Swans is only nine games old; Carlton and Collingwood have played 252 games against each other. You can’t buy 100 years-plus of history that the clubs like Collingwood and Carlton have. It takes Grand Finals and big games over many years to build a great rivalry.

When I was at Collingwood that history was always there; the Swans and Giants rivalry is very much in its infancy.

I managed to get a win in my first Sydney derby (Round 1, 2014) so I was lucky. The more we play against each other the bigger the rivalry gets.

Just the fact both teams are in the top and close adds more importance straight away.

In Round 3 there were only 21 points in it and we felt like we were in the game for ­almost all of it and they were just a bit better than us on the night.

They are in some serious form at the moment and are a premiership contender but we’re confident we can take it up to them in front of our home crowd on Sunday night.

The more wins we have will build the rivalry. There’s feeling in the games and we’re up for the challenge and looking forward to it.

Heath Shaw and Lance Franklin face off during the Sydney derby. Picture: Phil Hillyard

If we could make the finals and meet the Swans in the ­finals it would spur on the ­rivalry 10-fold. It would be great for AFL in Sydney. We’ve been down for a couple of weeks and this is a big game for us, we need to win it.

We feel like we’ve beaten some good teams this year but have lost to some good ones in the past couple of weeks. Sydney are in great form so to get a scalp like them would be huge for our confidence.

I’d love to have the Giants get to where Collingwood are, where everyone wants to beat you. The thing about the Magpies is you either love them or you hate them. If you support any of the other 17 teams, you hate Collingwood.

For rival supporters, if they were to win only one game a year they would want it to be against Collingwood. Some players enjoy that pressure.

It wasn’t like that in the early days at the Giants but we’re slowly building. If someone is going well we don’t like you, that’s how the AFL works. If someone isn’t going well they’re irrelevant.