WITH the Giants’ premiership hopes building by the week and the Swans back in their groove, Sydney Derby 31 is shaping up as another classic.

However, the blockbuster nature of the clash has left Greater Western Sydney captain Toby Greene rather bemused as to why it isn’t being held as a standalone Friday night affair.

The sixth-placed Giants can make it six wins in a row with a victory over Sydney, but that’s a task they’ve failed to achieve in the last five meetings between the sides.

For win-or-bust Sydney, it can keep its finals hopes alive with a sixth win from its last seven games.

All that adds up to a glamour affair but it will be taking place at the same time as the Western Bulldogs take on Essendon at Marvel Stadium.

“It’s a bit of a whack. It is what it is,” Greene said on Monday.

“It’s a great rivalry. It’s a really important game as well, we don’t have to manufacture too much. There’s always feeling in them, the intensity’s really high, Friday won’t be any different.”

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The Giants skipper then queried what game was on at the same time before delivering a withering reply of the possibility that it will deliver a contest.

“Yeah, the Dogs will win that,” he said.

With the stakes high enough, there was no need to add further fuel to the fire like Sam Taylor and Toby Bedford have done in recent years, labelling the Swans as ‘smug’ and claiming they ‘hated’ them.

But there is a chance the Giants can extinguish the Swans’ slim top eight hopes while keeping their own chance of a top-four finish alive.

As well as the September ramifications, there’s also a need to end a barren run in the Derby for the Giants, who have lost the last five games against their rivals and won just three of their last 12 match-ups.

“We’re aware of it, it’s a game we really want to win because of that,” Greene said.

“They’ve beaten us the last few times, we’re pretty hungry to turn that around.”

The Giants will be boosted significantly with Coleman medallist Jesse Hogan, All-Australian Sam Taylor and two-time club champion Josh Kelly all returning from injury for the clash.

The Hogan return coincides with Jake Stringer finding his best form with seven goals in the past two weeks. That adds to a forward group brimming with talent and options that will test the Swans significantly, especially if Tom McCartin fails to recover from concussion symptoms.

“We’ve got six or seven guys that are playing their role, everyone takes their turn. It’s a really selfless forward line at the moment as well,” Greene said.

“We’re fit and firing when you want to be.”

Conversely, the Giants midfield will need to quell the influence of the League’s in-form ruck Brodie Grundy, along with superstar trio Isaac Heeney, Errol Gulden and Chad Warner who are back to the form that took them to last year’s Grand Final.

The schedule clash aside, tickets are selling strongly for the Engie Stadium encounter which is in no small part down to the Swans’ form resurgence.

“To find ourselves in a situation over the last few weeks where we were barracking for the Swans was a bit unusual for us,” Giants CEO Dave Matthews admitted.

The Giants head honcho said he was very pleased with the appointments of Tom Harley as the League’s chief operating officer and Greg Swann as footy operations boss, considering their knowledge of the challenges facing Queensland and New South Wales clubs, with the debate over academy draft concessions continuing to roll on.

The Giants also announced a seventh straight membership record of 36,725 as they maintain a quest to be the biggest club in New South Wales.

“It’s possible, it’ll take some time. We’ve come pretty far from when I started here 14 years ago,” Greene said.

“We’re on the right track, footy’s really grown in Sydney since I’ve been here and it helps when both teams are going well as well.