Sydney enjoy a remarkable AFL rivalry with West Coast, but Swans chief executive Myles Baron-Hay is eagerly awaiting another bitter enemy to join the fray.

The 2005 and 2006 grand finals between the two sides, both decided by less than a goal, have been two of the highlights of the tense recent clashes between the Swans and the Eagles.

However the Swans, who moved from Melbourne to Sydney in 1982, will soon have a rival for the hearts of AFL fans in Australia's biggest city.

Baron-Hay said on Thursday he couldn't wait for the Swans to take on the new western Sydney team in 2012, developing a derby tradition to rival those of Port Adelaide and Adelaide and West Coast and Fremantle.

"You'd look forward to the cross-city derby," Baron-Hay told AAP.

"I originally came from Perth. It's always a highlight and the whole community gets involved.

"Bring it on."

The AFL's official "Rivalry Round" in round three this season featured the West Australian and South Australian derbies and Brisbane hosting Sydney.

But the AFL will eventually have to find a new partner for Brisbane in the Rivalry Round when the two NSW teams clash twice a year.

AFL chief Andrew Demetriou said on Wednesday he felt competition would be good for the Swans "in the long run".

"It will create a rivalry. To have two derbies between the Swans and this team will be a great thing for the future," Demetriou told AAP.

"I think overall anywhere we've put a second team, over the long haul it has proved to be beneficial for the first team.

"Opposition can end up being a good thing. We will work closely with the Swans.

"We want to have two very successful teams."

Baron-Hay is embracing the new rivalry, after assurances from the AFL that Swans staff will be protected from western Sydney recruiting raids and AFL funds will be poured into creating a bigger "pie".

"One of the positives is clearly the local derby," Baron-Hay said.

"If anyone sells out ANZ Stadium (82,000) there is money to be made."

But he added some hard work was ahead for the Swans, whose official membership figure for the June 30 cut-off mark was 26,721.

"Where the second team has been introduced in Adelaide and Perth they were already AFL-minded and they were converted to the code," he said.

"In the case of Sydney, you have to convert them to the code and then to the club."

Baron-Hay said the Swans would not pull back from chasing fans and sponsorship support from the western Sydney area.

"I don't think you stay out of a particular place. But we respect in time we will share the market," he said.

"Sharing the AFL pie may well net us more than what we have today.

"The AFL content is going to double in Sydney.

"We can see the second team creates bigger opportunities."

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