Sunday’s NAB Cup opener between the Greater Western Sydney GIANTS and Carlton at Blacktown International Sportspark will see legendary coaches Kevin Sheedy and Mick Malthouse renew their rivalry.

Sheedy, in his second and final season in charge of the GIANTS, will come up against Malthouse, who will be coaching the Blues for the first time.

Between them the two coaches have led their respective clubs to 15 Grand Finals with Sheedy holding the Premiership Cup aloft on four occasions and Malthouse three.

They’ve coached 1321 AFL games between them, and after all these years, Sheedy holds an advantage over Malthouse having won 388 to 386 games, despite coaching seven less games since first taking the reigns at Essendon in 1981.

This extraordinary relationship is now into its fith decade, with both men having played for Richmond between 1976 and 1979 and having now coached against each other on 46 occassions.

Since they last coached against each other in 2007, both men have become grandfathers, a fact Sheedy was only too happy to highlight this week.

"You've got grumpy Micky Malthouse, he's heading up here,” Sheedy said.

"He's a grandfather now, he's been retired for 12 months. He'll have to get the rust out of the system.”

With both coaches entering their 20th season as a coach, Malthouse was quick to fire back at his old adversary.

“We go back a long long way,” Malthouse said.

“He calls me grumpy, well that was actually my nickname for him but that’s good. Is he coaching or is Leon Cameron coaching?”

The GIANTS take on Carlton in the first of three matches on Sunday at Blacktown International Sportspark at 4.40pm.

The GIANTS will play Carlton in the first game, followed by the Swans and Carlton and the GIANTS versus the Swans in the final match. Matches will be played in two 20 minutes halves.